Double Agent
by eeniemeanie
Summary: LenaxLee, lots of MaD, WayanXO.C, OsloXO.C and DiwanXO.C. basically, everyone except Cortes...cos he's a miserable old git :D but i love him rly. VERY complicated storyline, i suck at summaries. RnR.
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

_"So you understand what you are expected to do?"_

_She nodded quickly. "Yes commander Oslo"_

_"Good." She turned to leave, full of guilt and self-loathing. "And Maria," Oslo paused, looking over his shoulder" don't fail me. It would be awful if something happened to your family"_

_She turned round abruptly, her colour rising as she screamed; "YOU BASTARD, LEAVE MY FAMILY OUT OF THIS!!"_

_The chair swung round and Oslo smirked at her. "You involved them Maria, when you took the job" he smiled nastily " Do the job properly, and you will get what you wanted, a years worth of water for you and your family, but... if you fail..." his pale emotionless eyes cut into her own, light brown, "Then I will kill them" He swung his chair round, missing the look of dread on Maria's face. ' What have I gotten myself into' she wondered in horror._

_"Ok." she hesitated slightly "I'll do it"_

_Oslo__ smiled evilly "Good."_


	2. The plan

Disclaimer: Skyland and all its characters (c) Emmanuel Gorinstein. Maria and her family (c) me

Chapter 1: The plan

Maria cruised away from the Monolith as fast as her little ship would carry her. "Come on, come on" she muttered edgily. The ship soon put a reasonable distance between her and the monolith. Maria relaxed and put the ship on autopilot. She walked down to the underbelly of the ship where there were some couches to relax on. She sighed, sitting down on one heavily. Massaging her temples she berated herself for coming to the monolith in the first place ' Why did i have to offer to do anything Oslo wanted' she shook her head in disbelief. Oslo was so cruel. He knew that the task was virtually impossible, but he seemed to want to see her fail miserably. In her normal condition, Maria could maybe have just pulled it off. But the ache in her head from dehydration was too apparent. Her eyes couldn't focus on anything properly, let alone be able to see the minute wires that make up a bomb...

The St Nazaire was cruising through skyland on a scouting mission. The vector had received a signal saying that water was in this region, and they had left to search for it straight away. Mahad and Wayan were up ahead in the mosquitoes with Adrian. "Eurgh, I hate these mosquitoes" a voice whined over the radio. On the bridge, Cortes rolled his eyes "be quite Mahad and keep looking for the water, we can't afford to miss it" He frowned deeply whilst keeping the wheel steady. He'd had just about enough of Mahad today, one more complaint from him and..."These things are so dumb, they just don't respond like the Hyperion..."

"THAT'S ENOUGH MAHAD, STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT YOUR STUPID SHIP, ITS GONE AND WE'RE VERY SAD, END OF." Cortes roared down the microphone, veins popping up on his forehead. There was a giggle behind him and he turned to see Lena and Cheng laughing at his sudden outburst. "What exactly is funny?" he demanded. Lena opened her mouth to answer but Mila chose that moment to walk through the door "oh, leave them alone, Aran, they don't mean any harm" Cortes snorted and turned to look out of the window at the front of the ship. The radio squawked and Adrian's worried voice came through inaudibly. "Say again Adrian?" Cortes frowned again.

"I've got sphere ships after me" Cried Adrian's voice.

"How many" Cortes swung the ship around and headed towards Adrian's distant mosquito. Five sphere ships were heading towards the mosquito whilst the mosquito opened fire at them, desperately trying to blow them out of the sky. Wayan was heading to the rescue in his mosquito, firing off several rounds hitting three of the patrollers out of the sky. Dahlia sat at the main energy cannon on the St Nazaire and fired the last out of the sky. The last patroller, which had stayed behind while the others charged at Adrian, sat where it was for a moment, out of range of the mosquitoes, before turning around and speeding away to the east.

"Shall I chase it captain?" Wayans questioning voice came over the radio. "No, that was a private patroller, which means…" He was interrupted by Mila suddenly crying out "Oslo!" with a look of fear and disgust written plainly across her face. Cortes shook his head "Not necessarily, it could be his new second in command, whoever that is… Leave it Wayan, we should leave before they bring back friends, where is Mahad?"

"I don't know he was right behind me "Wayan checked his radar" he's disappeared captain"  
"what do you mean disappeared!?" Cortes pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and second finger. 'I really don't need this right now'  
" where there more patrollers?" Mila's anguished voice said in Cortes' ear "we were distracted by the situation with Adrian, could some have taken Mahad while we were not looking?"  
"They wish" a sarcastic voice came through the radio  
" MAHAD!" they all yelled at once  
"Ouch, keep it down guys, I found the water Cortes, it this way"  
" Alright, we'll quickly retrieve the water, then we'll go somewhere safe, Ningxia perhaps, Puerto Angel is too far away, and I heard Ningxia need some water..."


	3. Dilema

**

* * *

**

Chapter two

Ningxia. The noise of a street party drifted on the breeze up to Maria's ship. She stirred, rolled over and fell of the couch onto the floor. Cursing, she rubbed her eyes wearily and stood up. The ship was drifting slowly towards the dock, still on autopilot. She was there. Maria ran to the bridge, switching the ship back to manual. She carefully steered the ship down into a narrow space at the docks.

Climbing down onto the block, it was a cloudy night, with the moon swathed in a blanket of cloud and the stars invisible. 'How fitting that the night I die should be so cloudy and depressing' she thought wryly. She jumped the last few feet onto the dock, regretting doing so immediately. Maria's head began to spin with vertigo and she had to force herself not to vomit. The docker, a middle age man with a thin white beard and clean shaven head walked over.

"That'll be 2 Silver coins if you please" Maria shook her head in an attempt to clear it. Her vision came back, but everything looked strangely fuzzy around the edges. She could hear a high pitched ringing noise that didn't seem to be bothering the man. 'Great, on top of dehydration I'm also going nuts. This day just gets better and better...'

"2 coins please" the docker said primly, interrupting her thoughts. He held out his hand pointedly. Maria sighed and reached into a pouch at her waist. She drew out 2 silver coins and placed them in the man's hands.

"Thank you Miss ...?"

"I'm not leaving a name"

"I'm afraid you have to, I need to write it down in my book."

Maria flipped a third coin to the man, who caught it and tapped his nose knowingly "Right you are Miss Bennett" He walked off humming to himself, happy to have got extra pay, who cared if his customer was a little strange, some people just liked privacy.

Maria turned her back on him and walked towards the exit of the harbour, toward the sound of the street party, she glanced over her shoulder, getting one last glance of her ship. 'Goodbye old friend, I doubt we'll see each other again 'she thought regretfully. That ship had belonged to her grandfather. She turned back and took a deep breath before walking past an old rebel warship docked next to her ship and plunging into the darkness of night-time Ningxia.

* * *

The St Nazaire docked in Ningxia on the southern side. The docker grumbled at them about a fee but soon shut up when the Cortes glared at him, telling him in no uncertain terms that they would not be paying.

"Not paying?! Out of the question! Everyone pays to dock. You have to pay" huffed the docker. Wayan walked over, standing over him menacingly.

"Make us" replied Wayan challengingly. The docker quailed under the pirate's hard gaze, before letting them past grudgingly.

The walked through the twilight streets of Ningxia before coming to the town centre where a young man stood waiting for them anxiously.

"Lee!" cried Lena, running over to him and hugging him. Mila raised an eyebrow at Mahad

"He's a friend of ours, the new leader of Ningxia" said Mahad shrugging.

"A friend hmm" said Mila sceptically, looking over at where her daughter was chatting animatedly to Lee.

The pirates walked over to Lee. Lena and him had been talking about something but broke of when the others neared them, blushing.

"Hello friends, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We have retrieved some water; you are in need of water aren't you?"

Lee's eyes lit up "This is good news, we have not received any water from the sphere since we drove them out of Ningxia, we have been running low for weeks, some people have already died of dehydration."

"Very well, you may have some of the water; the rest must go to Puerto Angel."

"Of course. Master Zalo shall be delighted to hear we have more water"

"You know Zalo?" Mila exclaimed surprised

Lee nodded.

"He is my master, he appointed me the new leader while he is ill, but we can talk about him later. There is a party starting here in an hour, you must join us to celebrate, you have just been so generous after all…"

* * *

Maria staggered down the street towards the pumping beat of the music, guided only by the vibrations travelling through the floor into the rubber soles of her trainers. After coming to the side street to the edge of a square where over two hundred people were partying, she sat down on the edge of a drained water fountain, wiping the sweat from her forehead. 'I doubt I'll be able to do it in this state. No. Don't think that, I WILL do it! My family need me to' wearily, she stood up and pulled out the bomb and detonator from deep in her coat pocket. She concealed the detonator in her hand and placed the bomb in her outer pocket, doing up the zip. She stood up, putting on a fake, care-free smile as if she was just an easy-going traveller coming to have some fun partying with the locals.

Wayan drained his glass, setting it down on the bar with a sigh. He looked over at Mahad, Dahlia and Lena dancing, laughing at Mahad's terrible moves. 'They don't know how good they've got it' he thought sadly. In a few years they won't be kids anymore and will have a hell of a lot of responsibility' He looked around and spotted a pretty young woman, around 26, wearing long black jeans that fitted her perfectly. She wore a red button up shirt with elbow length sleeves and carried a long black winter coat. He caught her eye and smiled at her. She smiled back and he took that as a sign to walk over.

"Hey, I haven't seen you around here before "He smiled at her, hoping his line wasn't too bad.

"Oh, I'm a traveller, I've just come from much colder places, hence the coat, this is my first time in Ningxia." She looked slightly nervous, but he took that to mean she was lost or worried about being on her own.

"Oh don't worry, I'll look after you" He said, trying to keep her there

"Who says I need looking after?" She replied frostily, sweeping past him indignantly

* * *

'That guy was sooo annoying, seriously, smile at a guy once, and suddenly he thinks you like him!' She walked towards the centre of the square, where to her dismay; a young kid of around 12 was DJ-ing. 'The bomb needs to be in the centre of the square, but if I put it here, that kid will die, but if I don't, my family will…'

"Hey, you must be new or something, I haven't seen you before. My names Cheng." He held out his hand and she shook it smiling, but inside squirming with guilt.

'I either have to kill the boy or my family' she realised with dread.


	4. Dreams of the past

**A/N thanks for your comment puppy face, i know what u mean bout her not being her age, but don't worry, she'll soon grow up, as 4 ningxia/minshia, i live in england and its called Ningxia here, also go on wikipedia and type in skyland. It comes up with some stuff bout the series that includes block names. I apologze 4 the short chapter but I'm writing this at 6:30 in the morning D:**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Hey, I need some help over here!" Cheng looked around him hopefully, hopping from foot to foot.

"Whatcha do cheng? Bore her to sleep?" Mahad joked, feeling for a pulse at the strange woman's neck. A light fluttering pressure built under his fingers and he nodded.

"Well, she has a pulse, so I guess she's just dehydrated or something." He stood up shrugging to Dahlia, who grinned at him before walking back to the dance floor. He watched her go, wanting to follow, but not able to leave cheng with a sick person. Cheng saw Mahad looking back and forth from him to Dahlia pleadingly. He sighed.

"Ok, Mahad you can go I'll get Cortes"

Cheng stood up on tiptoe to try and see his foster father as Mahad battled through the crowd towards Dahlia. 'He just won't give up on her' thought cheng amused. He looked down at the woman. She had dark blonde hair the colour of honey. Her clothes fitted her perfectly, sitting elegantly on her shapely frame. Cheng grinned 'no wonder Wayan tried chatting her up. Speak of the Devil'

Wayan arrived in front of Cheng and leant against the decks. He looked down at the woman in surprise; he obviously hadn't expected to see her again.

"Isn't this..."

"-the girl you were failing to chat up? Yeah, she collapsed here a minute ago, dead freaky, I'd just asked her name."

"She must be dehydrated, she looks very pale…I'll take her to the St Nazaire, she can recover there."

He scooped her up in his arms and pushed his way towards the exit of the square, shouting at people who failed to move 'I suppose this is my chance to make up for what i said to her. It was stupid.' he thought . She frowned slightly in her sleep and muttered a word that sounded strangely like 'Sasha' before fidgeting and moving closer to him.

* * *

_Sasha and her little sister ran along dark narrow corridors, their breath coming in ragged gasps, their feet pounding on the metal underfoot. Sasha ducked, missing an energy bolt as it soared over her and burnt a hole in the wall were her head had been seconds before._

"_Come on!" She screamed frantically" FASTER RIA" _

_They rounded the corner and Ria stumbled, losing her footing but Sasha didn't let her stop, dragging her to her feet and pulling her after him as the guardian rounded the corner with two brigs. The guardian had green emotionless eyes with light brown hair. He couldn't be more than 28._

"_You can't have her" Sasha stated firmly staring down the guardian, clutching her Little sister's hand tighter. The guardian laughed derisively._

"_Foolish girl. You think you can stop me? You are not a seijin. A shame. You're mother was so powerful...Now give her to me" The guardian held out his hand impatiently._

"_NO! you don't fool me, I'm much more powerful than you, but I promise not to hurt you if you take my sister back home to our mother and don't ever bother them again!" She breathed heavily, squeezing little Ria's hand tighter._

_The guardian roared with laughter " you try to bargain with the sphere when you HAVE NO POWER, normally I would kill people who try to bargain with the sphere straight off, but since you have amused me, I will let you go if you give your sister to me NOW" he said the last word commandingly holding his hand out palm up._

_" I don't want to hurt you" Whispered Sasha, backing off away from him whilst pushing Ria behind her.  
" _YOU_ are going to hurt _ME?!_ Little children do love to play games.."  
"I AM NOT A CHILD!" Sasha roared lashing out at the man suddenly. There was a sickening crunch as her hand connected with his chest and his ribcage shattered. The impact threw him back against the corner, denting the wall, raining plaster onto the floor. He lay there, paralised coughing blood. There was a clang as two heavy metal objects fell to the floor. Footsteps echoed towards him and his final glimpse of the world was his killer standing over him, one hand over the younger girls eyes, the other hanging loosely by her side, blood dripping gently onto the floor, contrasting violently with her pale face. She was 11. And she had killed a man._

* * *

_"Let's go Ria" whispered Sasha, not moving her hand from over the little girls eyes. It wasn't a sight for six year olds. She turned away from the corpse. ' I've killed a man. I know i should feel bad. But i don't' She scooped up Ria and walked past the twisted forms of the two brigs, one had an enormous cavity in ints chest where it's insides had been ripped out violently. The others head had been pulled clean off. She turned and walked down the corridor, turning her back on the past._

_"Where we going Sash?_

_" I Don't know Ria," She sighed, troubled" I don't know._

* * *

Wayan carried the woman up the ramp into the St Nazaire. Cortes was supervising the unloading of the water with a thunderous look on his face as he relayed instrucions to a group of Ningxian volunteers.

"Cortes! We need some water for this girl, i think she's dehydrated."

"Take her to the vector and see what he says. Then we'll see if she needs water." Cortes turned away dismissing him.

"But we can't wait about!" Exclaimed Wayan aghast" She could be seriously ill!"

" BUT she could be faking it to get extra water" said Cortes firmly " It wouldn't be the first time someone tried."

Wayan shook his head disgusted. But he knew Cortes was right. Grimacing, he adjusted her weight in his arms. When he had first picked her up she had felt light as a feather, but her limp form had quickly become a dead weight.

* * *

_Sasha twisted the door handle, shifting Ria's weight into her right arm so that she could rest her aching left. She was met by a blast of sunlight. She let the sun's warmth flood over her, taking in every drop of power she could get her hands on. She would need it if they were to survive. She turned round and looked at the place she had called home for 4 years. It was a long rectangular building of gray stone. It looked ordinary enough, easy to get in and out of. But then you turned round. and it was a different story. There were 3 other outlying buildings, all grey. A metal fence with a top of barbed wire completely surrounded the compound. There were sentry posts dotted along the fence at regular intervals. Brigadiers patrolled the grounds, guns at the ready. It would be impossible to escape without being seen. But Sasha didn't intend to be seen. She remembered the guardians words about not being a seijin with a slight smirk._

_'No' she thought as her body and Ria slowly became transparent 'I'm something very different .'_

* * *

**Hope you like it! Sorry it took me a while, I had a lot to think about with the plot.**


	5. Death and flying

**Chapter 4**

_Sasha sat curled up in the supplies cupboard of a patroller. Ria slept gently in her arms, sucking her thumb. Sasha's eyelids fluttered dangerously before she shook her head hard. If she fell asleep, they would no longer be invisible, and she didn't want to hurt anyone else. She sighed and carefully placed Ria down on a pile of __blankets in the corner. As soon as she put Ria down, she became visible again. She stood up, stretching as much as the cramped conditions would allow. She placed one hand one the door, feeling light vibrations from the sound of people speaking against her palm. She took a deep breath before walking_ _RIGHT THROUGH THE DOOR_!_ There were two new graduates from the guardian academy sitting on the other side flirting with each other as the ship automatically landed itself on a large block. She stepped back through the door and picked up Ria. 'Time to go'_

* * *

"Hmm, it would seem she has gone into a coma from severe dehydration"

"A COMA! Will she ever wake up?!" Wayan exclaimed "Doesn't look ill" he said sarcastically, turning to Cortes, who shrugged

"It _could _have been true" he replied defensively.

"She _should _wake up, but we'll have to give her LOTS of water," the vector said doubtfully "I'm not really a doctor.." he turned and picked up a catheter from the table next to him, attaching a bag of water to it before pushing the catheter gently into the woman's veins. He hung the bag on a hook next to the bed.

"What now?" Wayan asked, turning to Cortes

"We find out her name"

* * *

_Ria took a deep breath, allowing her heart rate to quicken before opening her eyes, completely aware of her surroundings. It was her 11__th__ birthday today. The day of her initiation. She sat up, still keeping her breathing under control. The walls of the dormitory were their same vibrant red. The snores of the other girls were like thunder in the morning silence. In a way she would be sad to leave. She got out of her bed and slipped on a marble that had been left behind by the little ones. 'Then again, maybe leaving isn't so bad' she thought grimacing._

_She stood up stretching and yawning, before trudging wearily out of the door. Downstairs, Sasha and Dominic were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking stolen water._

"_Happy birthday Ria" said Sasha smiling. The sixteen year old came and gave her little sister a hug, holding back the regret she felt. 'She's going to grow up cursed, like me'_

"_Happy birthday Maria__, so… use them yet?" asked Dominic._

"_No, I have no idea how to, what if I'm not like Sash, what if-"_

"_You're bound to be like me" reassured sash "you're my sister"_

"_But what if I can't make them work, will you teach me" whispered Marian_

"_I can't teach you, Ria, you just wake up one day and they're there" seeing her sister's face fall, she added _

"_But I can help you find out how to use them"_

* * *

Cheng sat at the main computer, running the woman's picture through the scanner, looking for matches for what had to be the hundredth time, painfully aware of Lena and Lee laughing in the corner. Mila was also more than aware of the couple and was watching out of the corner of her eye with a tolerant expression on her face. At least for now…

"Cortes, can I please stop now, we've been doing this for ages, she doesn't come up on our database." He spun round in his chair bored _'being a genius is sooo boring sometimes, they need me for everything…"_

"Wait a minute" Mila turned around "have you checked the sphere database, if she's a friend of ours, she'll be on there!"

Cheng spun round in his chair excitedly, hacking into the sphere database. The other pirates crowded round the screen, even Lena got up to have a look.

"I'm in, right, scanning the picture, looking for a match… FOUND HER!"

"That's great cheng" Lena leant on his shoulder gently, trying to get a better look at the screen "So, who is she?"

Cheng blushed at her touch, before stammering back "It says her name is Marian Blake. She escaped from a sphere testing facility with her sister Sasha when she was 6. Oh my god, that's amazing…" Cheng's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline as his jaw dropped.

"WHAT?! "Yelled the pirates in unison.

* * *

_Marian and her sister climbed down from the tree house. They jumped the __last few feet to the ground. Sasha looked at her new home. It was a large Oak tree, with green, luscious leaves. A willow tree had grown so close to it that they had merged, twisting around each other to form a wide trunk about ten metres in diameter. The leaves from the willow tree enclosed the compound in a soft green curtain. The tree was surrounded by a deep forest. The upper branches of the tree supported a wooden decking with a slanted thatched roof. On the ground there was a swing hanging from one of the lower branches and a small wooden hut stood under the branches of the tree. There was a space of clear land for the children to practice their powers. The sisters walked over to it, standing facing each other, with a 4 metre gap between them._

"_Ok, we'll practice seijin abilities first. Hit me" Marian charged up some energy in her hands and fired it at her sister who deflected it towards a metal pole that was embedded into the ground. The pole absorbed the energy, storing it in a container to use for electricity later. _

"_Now deflect this" Sasha charged up a ball of energy and threw it at Marian, who again deflected it beck to the pole. They continued this for ten minutes until Sasha held up a hand._

"_Right, now it's time to use your other powers" said Sasha. Embarrassment coiled up inside Marian. While they had been practicing, the other children had woken and come to watch her use her powers for the first time. 'I wish I could just disappear' she thought cringing. Everyone cheered and Sasha clapped hard _

"_What?" Snapped Marian_

"_You just went invisible for the first time" Sasha hugged her sister hard" I'm proud of you" she whispered in Marian's ear._

* * *

"She's the daughter of a ghost." Cheng muttered numbly

"WHAT?!" Cortes bellowed

"But that's not possible, ghosts aren't solid, they can't…you know…" Dahlia blushed, glancing at Mahad's amused face.

"Says here that he could become solid for a brief amount of time"

Mahad wolf whistled "My type of person"

"MAHAD" Mila said shaking her head in disgust.

"Anyway, apparently her sister, Sasha was captured 12 years ago. She works for the sphere now, some high up position…Marian escaped and is just about the most wanted person in skyland, there's a personal message from Oslo saying that anyone to catch her will be promoted.

"Promoted? That's a big deal for the sphere; you rarely get promoted unless you do something amazing." Mila frowned. "Why does he want her so much?"

* * *

_Marian ran through various skills, super strength, invisibility and intangibility.__ Sasha watched throughout, giving instructions where she went wrong._

"_That's enough for today" Sasha nodded, satisfied. "Let's go eat"_

_They walked toward the trunk of the tree and pushed open a hidden door. They were on a small landing, with a spiral staircases working upward through the tree trunk to the various levels of the tree house. The staircase also spiralled downward into the kitchen and living areas. The kitchen was large, with the wooden table Sasha had sat at that morning as the centre piece.15 children sat around it chatting animatedly. They were all orphans, of various ages and race. Dominic stood at the stove, dishing out helpings of soup into 20 small bowls. He and Sasha were the eldest, at 16. The youngest child was a pair of twins, the girl was named Sophie and the boy James. There mother had died in child birth and the Orphans had taken them in. They were barely 4 years old. The bowls were filled and the children all tucked in, asking Marian about her new powers and telling her how she was just as strong as Sasha. Marian looked around at her extended family. 'I must be the luckiest person alive' she thought smiling gratefully._

_After lunch, all the children below 10 grabbed their baskets and left to go berry picking in the wood with Dominic keeping an eye on them. The 7 children who were over ten went of hunting the deer that lived in the forest. Sasha took the ship they had parked in the shed under the tree to the market to the Market with Marian to educate her in the ways of the thief…_

* * *

Wayan sat in the sick bay of the St Nazaire. They were back at Puerto Angel and he really needed to go home and sleep, but somehow, he just couldn't leave her alone. She had been having continuous supplies of fluid pumped into her for 3 hours before the Vector decided to stop. He said that she had had enough and that they could only wait for her to wake up now. Wayan sat back in his chair, leaning his head against the back of the chair.' Five minutes rest...' he thought sleepily, closing his eyes.

* * *

_It was a Friday__ and Temuera's market was full of the sound of vendors shouting out their wares to passersby. Marian shifted from foot to foot nervously. She glanced over her shoulder. Sasha nodded encouragingly. Marian walked forwards to a stall laden with food and water obviously supplied to the vendor by the sphere. He didn't look at Marian, but she wasn't sure if she was completely invisible or he had just not noticed her. _

"_Hello?" she said, waving her hand in front of the man's face._

"_Who's there?" the man jumped, looking around at the bemused passers by, who muttered things like "lunatic" as they passed, smirking._

_Marian cautiously reached out, taking a bunch of bananas of the stall. They vanished when she touched them; she shoved them in her bag before taking 5 bottles of water. She reached out to take a bag of apples when Sasha hand stopped her._

"_No, we don't take everything from one stall, that would put the guy out of business."_

"_But he's sphere!" protested Marian_

"_If we took him out of business we would be just as bad as the sphere, stealing from innocent people whose only crime was to try to keep their families safe." Sasha's eyes bored into Marian's, who turned her eyes downward._

"_I didn't think of that" She said ashamed of being foolish._

"_It's natural to act like that, come one Ria, cheer up; the guy over there is selling chocolate"_

_Marian cheered up. She hadn't had chocolate since she was 5, when they had lived in the testing facility… 'NO, don't think about that place' she thought angrily 'It was like living hell, thank god we got out…'_

_Marian and Sasha spent the rest of the afternoon 'shopping' before sitting down on the edge of the block. Dangling their legs over the edge as they munched on the chocolate. Marian loved being away from the tree house. She hadn't left the forest since her and Sasha had found the tree 5 years ago. Things had seemed so bad then. But they had been patient. They started to build the tree house. Then they met Dominic while hunting in the woods and he came to live with them and help them finish the house. Over time, more and more children had come to live in the woods with them. The tree house had been finished and life settled down into a regular pattern. At the age of 11 you started doing your first missions, stealing water, gathering information about the sphere. Sasha crunched up her wrapper noisily, interrupting Marian's thoughts._

"_I brought you out here on your own with me for a reason Ria." She said leaning backwards, surveying the various islands of Temuera. "There is another skill I have, that you must learn, one that I have kept a secret from everyone" She put a hand on Marian's back, leaning close_

"_I can fly" Marian gasped_

"_How did you learn to do that?" She leaned forward, closer to Sasha_

"_Like this" Sasha replied, pushing hard with her hand on Maria's back._

_Maria plunged downwards, wind rushing past her face as she screamed, g-force rippling across her cheeks. 'I'm going to die! I'm going to die!' her brain shrieked incomprehensively. In the distance below her, a small block floated peacefully, approaching her rapidly. There was a laugh next to her and she turned to see Sasha floating along on her back next to her._

"_You nutty bitch, I'm going to die and it's all your fault, I can't fly." She sobbed, tears flying away from her in the wind._

"_I forgive you for swearing at me" grinned Sasha "I thought I was going to die when I learnt too. Enjoy" She twisted over in the air and pulled upwards._

"_NO! DON'T LEAVE!" She looked downwards at the block and closed her eyes, bracing herself for impact._

* * *

_Beepbeepbeepbeep…_ Wayan woke with a start to see Marian's heart monitor flatlining. The vector ran in astonished.

"What's happening?" Wayan cried out, starting to do CPR on her.

"She must be stressed, stand clear" Wayan jumped back. The vector pressed resuscitation paddles to her chest, pressing the button. Her body arced into the air before falling back down. The vector glanced at the monitor.

"Nothing, again" He pressed the button. Her body flew upwards, then down again.

"Nothing" whispered the Vector. He sighed, putting the paddles back on the table

"No…try again! She can't be dead!"

"I'm sorry Wayan…she's gone"

The monitor's harsh beeping rang in his ears as the Vector covered her corpse with the bed sheet.

* * *

**Wahoo, finally finished this chapter, but the story isn't over yet. Hint: remember that Maria/Marian is half ghost ;) got the idea from countess Kondrati and a fab book i read a while ago. Sasha and Dominic (C)me btw. Reviews appreciated**


	6. Rebirth

**A/N: by the way, in case you're confused, Maria's full name is Marian, but I call her Maria and Sasha, her sister calls her Ria. At the end of the last chapter, in her Coma Maria was dreaming of her past with her sister (which was very strange, I'll admit) whilst in real life her heart stopped and Wayan (who LIKES her) was about to take her to the morgue. Sorry its been so long.**

* * *

Chapter 6

_All she could see was white. '_I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead' _her brain reeled with shock and she began to cry silently. Then it occurred to her that to cry, she had to have eyes, and if she had eyes…_

_Maria opened her eyes. She was suspended a foot from the ground by an invisible force. She lifted her head and saw her sister smiling at her proudly._

"_I knew you could do it, but you needed to learn for yourself. I will always look after you Ria as long as there's breath in my body, but one day" she hesitated " one day something may happen to me and it'll be your turn to look after our family, to make sure they are safe, have enough water, and most of all, keep them away from the sphere." She finished seriously._

_Sasha held out a hand solemnly. Maria reached out, grasping it firmly, before being pulled up into the darkness._

* * *

Cold. Freezing, thought-numbing cold. Maria's eyelids twitched slightly and her feet shuffled slightly before they met resistance. She opened her eyes, startled. She was in a coffin shaped box, naked and vaguely aware that she was having trouble breathing. '_You have got to be kidding me' _she squirmed around for a moment before reaching her toes and, feeling a small card, pulled it up to her face. _'I'm in a morgue' _she thought, groaning. _'Not again'_

* * *

Wayan sat in the lighthouse, monitoring ships coming in and out of Puerto Angel. He knew that he shouldn't, but he couldn't help thinking about the girl that had died earlier. There was a creak from the floorboards as someone climbed the stairs. He turned around, saying as he got up;

"Vector I was just…" He stopped and gaped, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. At the top of the stairs, her hair bedraggled and wearing only a white sheet wrapped around her, stood the girl, Maria. She hopped from foot to foot, uncomfortable.

"Ummm… got any clothes?" she grinned sheepishly

"Uhh…" Wayan stared at her barely concealed body transfixed"Yeah, somewhere…"

* * *

Maria sipped her coffee gratefully, perfectly aware of the pirates eyes observing her carefully.

"You died" said Wayan accusatively

"Yes I did" She replied calmly, taking another sip of her drink 'god_, how am I going to get out of this one_'she thought frantically, showing no emotion on her face.

"But your alive now" Said Wayan slowly She turned and looked at him

"Quick aren't you" She said sarcastically "Now wonderful as this experience has been, I have to leave" She drained her cup, picked up the coat she'd been lent turned to leave and walked right into a long ginger haired man standing behind her.

"And just where do you think you're going?" The man demanded loudly in a Scottish accent.

"That way" She pointed at the door before pushing him back lightly. He went staggering backwards and crashed into a table. She ignored him and swept past. She had places to be.

Wayan jumped up, concerned for his captain "Are you alright Cortes?"

"I'm fine" snapped Cortes "now come catch her"

They burst out of the tavern and looked left and right. There was no sign of Maria anywhere.

"You go that way" Cortes pointed to the left, before running off to the right, his footsteps echoing loudly on the stone. Wayan ran off down the left path, scanning the area for Maria. It was a mercy that there was no way she could get off the block without an aircraft. They would easily find her on the block; Puerto Angel wasn't that big…

* * *

Maria stood on the edge of the block, invisible. The pirate, Wayan ran past, oblivious to her standing there. She smiled sadly. The pirates were decent folk and she would be back, but right now… She turned and looked at the midday sun. It was time to go to the beginning. She stepped forward of the block and fell a few metres before swooping off away from Puerto Angel. Who needed a ship when she could FLY?!

* * *

**A/N**** This won't be updated for a while. You'll find out why soon, lets just say, I have something planned that involves Diwan, Oslo, Sasha, Dominic and a lot of lurve ! XD**


	7. Charlotte

**Hey there reader, so sorry for not updating in AGES. And i mean ages. It's been 2 years. Just WOW, i really am lazy. Anyway, here's a very delayed next two chapters, hope you enjoy**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

There was something...soft, thats the word...under my cheek. It tickled and prodded the delicate skin of my face, one of the only pieces of skin on my body that was still intact. I could have looked down at my guts pouring out my ruined stomach, but why bother?

The fall from the St Nazaire hadn't killed me instantly. Oh no. My stupid panicky brain had activated my powers, slowing my descent, but not enough. I'd fallen down to a distant block and smacked down onto it with all the grace of a belly flop; except this belly flop was onto rock and i'd been falling at 35 miles an hour.

Oh what the hell. Why not look? Morbid curiosity was overcoming me, i had to get a glance at the damage done to me. Trying to rotate my neck enough to look at myself without moving too much, i finally got a glimpse of my once black, now red sphere uniform.

Now normally blood doesnt bother me. In fact, i find it quite comical when it comes spurting out of my victims bodies as i use my powers to crush the life from them. However my blood splattered all over the uniform i had always kept so neat just looked...wrong.

There were footsteps and a shadow blocked out the sun above me. Pain washed over me now that i wasnt in the sun and couldnt use my powers to dull the snipping sensation in my guts.

_'Say something clever brain. Do me proud. A sharp parting remark, something to be remembered by. Cmon Diwan, lets do this!'_

Blood gurgled out of my lips as my pain crazed brain made my lips form the words: "Y'know, i think red suits me"

As my vision narrowed all i could think was:

Great. Thank you so much brain for that utterly USELESS,_ PATHETIC _PARTING COMMENT!

* * *

He stared down at the sphere agent infront of him. She was hurt bad. He considered briefly, then nodded, kneeling down and rubbing his hands together, bluefire sparks crackling in his palms as he lay them on top of her. Slowly, her ribs folded together and new skin grew over them. Slowly, her body reverted back to the way her genes had naturally made her. The tattoo faded as her skin regenerated and her hair grew at a shocking rate, curling around her jawline. The girl breathed out slowly, frowning in her sleep. He shivered and layed his hand on her forehead, loathing himself for what he was doing. Sending one concentrated burst of energy into her injured skull, he healed her brain, and in doing so, erased all her memories.

* * *

My eyes opened. Hmmm, weird. Where was i? Come to think of it, WHO was I? I flung my legs out of bed, leaping to my feet and my face screwed up in pain, lifting one foot and peeling off pieces of the lego house i'd just crushed.

"Funny, isn't it? The whole world went to hell and still children play with lego." A soft voice remarked.

Without even thinking, my reflexes wheeled me around and into a defensive stance.

Blinking at me in a chair next to my bed, was a man in his early twenties wearing quite geeky glasses with a book on his lap. He pulled them off and snapped the book shut quickly, stowing both away in the large outer pockets of his jumpsuit. It was a blue, baggy, one-piece affair that contrasted violently with the scarlet walls around me.

"What's the matter charlotte?" He frowned at me, running a hand through thick brown hair, which some part inside me was envious of for some reason. So my name was charlotte? Charlotte...the name sounded unfamiliar and heavy.

"Nothing, nothing erm..." i scrabbled around, i didnt know his name. God, why didnt i know anything?

"Charlotte, can you remember anything?" He looked at me, concerned. Relieved that he mentioned it first, i shook my head. "I don't know anything."

He nodded sympathetically. " I thought that may happen. You were so injured. Do you remember nothing?" He raised an eyebrow half hopefully.

"nothing." i replied quietly, scratching my head in embarassment and feeling short spiky hair there. It felt odd, sort of itchy and new.

"Well... we'd better start helping you remember then. " He smiled "I'm Dominic. This is, well... Home, i guess. Your name is charlotte. You're a seijin, like me, but i'm a bit... different. A lot of us here are seijins, or like me." He paused, considered and blushed " Well, not _quite_ like me, just different from you, you're a normal seijin." He blanched and quickly added: "Theres nothing wrong with that of course!"

I had to laugh. He looked quite cute with that blush and trying so hard not to cause offence.

"Anyway," he coughed and ran his hand through his hair again "You were out on one of our missions, trying to steal water from a pirate ship, but were discovered while you were onboard their ship. They pushed you off the ship and you fell" he winced " Straight down. I came out to get you and healed you up."

His expression brightened "Thats what i do. I heal. I can channel energy from the sun into people, making their cells regenerate." But thats the thing, when they regenerate, its like a reset button. Because you were so badly hurt, you even had a bit of brain and skull trauma, and when i reset that, it may have kinda _accidentally _reset you're memories." He grimaced. "Sorry".

I sighed. "Don't be. If you hadnt, i'd have been brain damaged." I looked around the room at the many beds scattered around and caught sight of myself in a mirror on the far wall. I was wearing an olive green tank top with brown combat pants. It all looked very... masculine. Kinda like army wear or something. But strangely thats not what bothered me. It looked...weird. It was too colourful, i felt myself longing for black, covering clothes that helped conceal me in dark night time shadows, not this green, skin baring top and slightly baggy pants with millions of pockets for god knows what. I shook my head and climbed back into bed wearily.

"I think i want to rest some more, too much has happened. I don't remember enough, its confusing" I murmured to Dominic. He nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Dominic waited, poised outside the door. Soon the sphere agent's breathing settled into a steady rythm and he crept down the stairs. In the kitchen, the others were waiting around the table for him. He took his seat, leaving two seats conspicuously empty at either end of the table. The others were glaring at him openly.

Finally Sophie broke the silence " You shouldnt have brought her here Dominic! She's a sphere agent!" her twin brother james nodded at her side automatically. Dominic watched them quietly, thinking back 12 years to when they were so young. Only 4. They were still the youngest of the group, but in no way young any more. Wistfully he wished Sasha's chair wasn't empty. Things had been good when she was in charge. Sure, Maria was a good leader now, maybe even better than Sasha, but that didnt stop him yearning for the day's when all of their lives had been simpler. But times changed, people changed. Hell, some of the original group had even had children, who were the culprit's of "Charlotte's" lego related injury this morning.

"She's an EX sphere agent - she remembers nothing because of the healing. We're giving her a CHANCE sophie, can't you see that? A new life, she can be a better person now!"

The elder occupants of the table nodded, seeing the sense in his decision.

Sophie huffed. "Well, what are we calling her then? Because we can't very well call her by her old name, the memories will come back in an instant!"

"Charlotte. I told her her name was Charlotte. It means free, which I thought was appropriate. Now, you should all be elsewhere on your missions. Its past 9 am, we're wasting valuable sunlight, lets go."

With a lot of grumbles, yawning and scraping of chair legs, the room's inhabitants left, climbing up the stairs past the dorms to ground level. For a few moments there was the sound of small ships and scooters leaving, then Dominic was alone in the silence.

Pulling out the sphere agents identifying tags, he read the name and shivered slightly

DIWAN

II COMMAND

He really hoped he knew what he was doing. Rehabilitating any sphere agent was dodgy, but the second in command? He was playing with fire and he knew it. Exerting force, he bent the name tag in half and melted it closed on itself, hiding the name inside, before slipping the small slip of metal into one of his many pockets.

As far as the world was concerned, Diwan was dead. Hopefully, he added to himself, she would stay that way.

* * *

**Sorry about any spelling mistakes by the way, i have no spell checker on my computer for some messed up reason :'(**


	8. Target Practice

**Chapter 7**

Maria circled the block unsurely, debating with her conscience about her next actions. She HAD meant to leave, but her family could really do with some water. The block looked to have plenty of it; the grass was a lustrous shade of green which indicated it had plenty of rainfall there, and everybody she saw seemed well enough. But there was something about the people there that made it wrong to steal from them. Slipping through the block's crowded streets like the ghost she half was, she enjoyed her favourite pastime. _Watching._

She'd picked it up early on after gaining her powers, this watching. It wasn't intentional, it just happened. There was something about being invisible that gave so much power. You could walk into a bank and walk out with all its money while people ran around in circles inside trying to find who had stolen all their gold. You could walk up behind someone and slit their throat, steal the money from their pockets. But the glory of this power, the real thrill of it, was you knowing what you were capable of, but others being clueless. You could walk through the crowd invisible, doing what you pleased, walking through people who got in the way, accidentally stumbling across people's secrets, always being in everyone's inner circle. Not that they knew it of course. Nobody could see her and all the people would feel was a slight goosebump sensation as maria walked straight through them unhesitatingly.

But there was a price for this power. Because people couldnt see you and thought they were alone, they would get up to all sorts of things. Some things were comical, like awful singing or dancing. Other things were disgusting things; bad habits like burping and picking your nose. Men were the worst, thought maria shuddering. Animals, complete animals... But occasionally, you would witness terrible things. Horrible things, people attacking each other in dark alleys and blades gleaming in the moonlight, a woman struggling, blood on the sidewalk. But you couldn't do anything about them. To intervene was to become visible, and visibilty meant you were vulnerable.

So, you watched. You watched people at their best and worst, seeing how they interacted with others, Figuring out who they liked, who they hated, and who they loved. After a while, you became a very good judge of human nature, something Maria was proud of. If there was one thing she knew, it was people.

As she walked through Puerto Angel's streets, deciding what to do about the Sphere and her failed task, she found herself overwhelmed by the sheer..._goodness_...of the town and it's people. She found herself unconsciously following some people, seeing their simple, beautiful lives free from sphere persecution. She chewed her lip. If she could get her family here, maybe, just maybe they could make a new home here? No. She shook the thought away. Better to stay at the compound they'd found for themselves than endanger these people. A girl with rather interestingly styled blonde hair caught her eye, as she strode past quite purposefully through the street, craning her head slightly to look at a young man ahead of them walking besides a pretty green eyed girl, pointing things out to her.

"Mahad! Cortes said you need to do more practice up at the range with me." Blondie grabbed the man's shoulder, spinning him around.

"Oh, um, hey Dahlia, I was just showing Shannon around, she's one of the new refugees from-"

"Well, she's a big girl, she can find her own way around, now come on" The girl tugged his arm and he grinned, following her slowly.

"Easy Dahlia, no need to get all stressy, are you JEALOUS of shannon?" He winked jokily and the blonde (Dahlia, wasn't that what he called her?) let go of his arm, putting one hand on her hips and rolling her eyes in an exasperated way before speeding up.

"Lets go Mahad."

Mahad laughed, turning to wink at Shannon, winking. "My lady awaits, you'll be fine on your own right?" Not waiting for shannon's answer, he jogged off after Dahlia, waving a goodbye half heartedly over his shoulder.

Maria laughed good-naturedly, ignoring the people around her staring at the patch of thin air which had just laughed. _Funny how that girl avoided answering him _she thought amusedly.

* * *

Wayan was doing a patrol through the market. He nodded at mahad and Dahlia as they passed, Dahlia looking annoyed and indifferent and Mahad grinning his usual confident smile as he flirted with her. Wayan chuckled to himself when they were out of earshot. Sitting down on a nearby bench which was mysteriously empty in the crowded market place, he watched Dahlia's retreating form and said wryly to himself "methinks the lady doth protest too much"

A giggle, quickly stifled followed by an "oh shit.." came from right next to him. His head snapped around, his quick mind already knowing who'd spoken.

"It's you, isn't it? Maria? Please, can we just talk? I'm sorry about the other night in Ningxia, i was a bit drunk and you're really pretty and" He groaned. "shit, did i say that?"

There was a full out laugh next to him and he felt relieved. At least she was still there. He smiled at where he hoped her face roughly was. A hand gently caressed his chin, turning it slightly.

"I'm over here." He reached up to touch the hand on his chin but she withdrew it too quick. Hand half to his face, he quickly concealed what he'd been about to do by running his hand up and over his short hair.

"Why can't you just be visible? Nobody would hurt you, the people here arent like the sphere, we're friends to you, we'd never turn you in to them-"

"How do you know that they want me? Oh, you may have seen my file i guess..."

"yeah...I didnt really believe the ghost thing until well..now" dead silence greeted his words.

"Erm, Maria? Are you there?"

"Yeah. What did the sphere file say? What exactly do they know about me?" Her voice was filled with anxiety. Wayan smiled and hesitantly reached out, finding her shoulder, which he stroked gently with his thumb in what he hoped was a reasuring way.

"Nothing really, the name of your father, mother and sister. That you have powers different to other seijins, but thay didnt say what was different really. That you escaped from a high security testing facility, S51 at the age of six with your older sister, who was recaptured by the sphere-"

"WHAT DID IT SAY ABOUT MY SISTER!" Maria violently erupted into vision, glowing slightly around the edges. She slid quickly along the bench untill she was right next to him, twisting him towards her and taking his hand in hers eagerly.

"You must tell me, please, did it say where she is?" He sighed, looking into he deep brown eyes and enclosed her hand in both of his.

"I'm sorry Maria, it said...well, it said that she works for the sphere now."

* * *

"You're doing it wrong Mahad." Dahlia stated boredly as Mahad missed his target again. He swore and rounded on her, lowering his hands, which held an energy bow.

"I don't see why i can't just keep using my boomerang, it's never failed me-"

"Because you need to be able to use a VARIETY of weapons Mahad, if you get captured your boomerang will be taken away. Then if you get the chance to break out, you'll have to know how to use whatever weapons you find on the way. I'd much rather you alive than dead Mahad."

She turned back to her target and hit the center with one easy bolt of energy from her bow. Continuing her perfectly aimed shots with lazy accuracy, she didnt notice Mahad until he spoke from behind her.

"So you do care about me being alive?" His voice was different to usual, sounding almost sincere, jokeless.

"Well..."Her brain spun out of control finding a suitable answer. Instead she just took another shot at the target. It went wide by two feet. She scowled and deactivated her bow, walking away over to a small table. She picked up an energy gun, tossing another to Mahad, which he caught clumsily.

"We'll practice with these now." Mahad laughed. He'd already got some practice lessons from Wayan on these things, they were easy enough. Turning away from Dahlia, still wondering why she hadnt replied, he took a stable stance and fired off three shots, each of which hit the target with reasonable accuracy. Cocking the gun, he turned to Dahlia smugly.

"Aren't you going to have a go?" He teased and she bit her lip, blushing slightly. She faced her target slightly uncertainly, adjusting her grip on the gun and fired a shot. Then another. Then another. Every one of them missed by a large distance.

"Dammit!" she swore, glaring down the target and firing another shot. It missed. AGAIN. Rolling her eyes she threw down the gun. Mahad laughed, walking over and picking it up. She shook her head but he turned her around to face the target again.

"Take the gun with both hands and plant your feet shoulder width apart" he instructed from behind her. Sighing, she did so. He frowned at her grip. It was all wrong. Reaching around her from behind, looking over her shoulder, he gently adjusted her grip, placing his slightly rough hands over her smaller more delicate ones.

"And now you just squeeze the trigger" He said in her ear, directly her aim a little. She was really soft and warm feeling, he thought, and her hair smelt of something fresh, kinda lyk that fruit, god, what was it...

Her hands shifted under his as she pulled the trigger and the shot hit the target dead on. Laughing, she turned to him grinning

"I DID IT!" She stopped. She hadnt really realised how close he'd been standing behind her, in fact, his chest pressing against her back had felt kinda pleasant. But now that she'd turned around she realised they'd been very close, and now their faces were only inches apart. Her mind went racing back to that time in the Hyperion were she'd so almost kissed him, but been untimely interupted. Much to her annoyance at the time, not that Mahad knew that. His arms were still around her from where he'd been helping her with the gun. Now they were loosely clasped around her waist with the gun dangling from his hands. Every piece of her body was completely at ease standing here with him like this.

Still. She'd better move away. The last thing she needed right now was her relationship with Mahad to get complicated. Besides, he didnt mind, there was always _shannon. _She scowled. What did he see in her? Damn her brain was such a liar, of course she didnt want to move away from him, but she really, really, REALLY should.

* * *

She really was beautiful while standing there in his arms, caught in thought, her eyes looking into his in a glazed way. She frowned.

"Erm, i should-" she began,

And then he leant down and kissed her.


	9. Spiky Natured

**Chapter 8**

Her lips felt really good against his, not sticky and smothered in lip glossy gunk like other girls. That was something he liked about Dahlia, she didnt fuss loads over her looks like most other girls. She was just naturally pretty. Spiky natured though, when she didnt know you well. He shifted the gun into one hand so that he could support the small of her back with the other hand, pulling her closer to him. She moved towards him willingly, one arm sliding over his shoulder and around the back of his neck while her other hand reached up to gently caress his jawline with her fingertips as she kissed him back. Mahad leant further in towards her, intensifying the kiss, moved his other hand to rest on her hip-

And dropped the gun he'd forgotten he was holding. It hit the ground and discharged loudly but harmlessly into the grass. Dahlia, startled by the noise, broke off the kiss, looked around, located the noice source, before looking back at him. Confronted by his innocently blue eyes at close range, she jumped away from him almost guiltily.

"Erm, so yes um" She ran a hand distractedly through her hair, causing it to stand up in little tufts "Well, yeah, practise on your bow work and i'll see you tomorrow" She nodded, turned, and started to almost run away.

"Uh-uh-uh Dahlia" Mahad jogging over infront of her, blocking her exit "You kissed me back" He raised an eyebrow at her and her defensive, spiky wall came up.

"Only because you practically threw yourself on me, i was surprised" She was sooo lying and they both knew it.

"Really? So you don't want to kiss me when i do this?" He moved closer, looking down on her, inches apart. Her gaze wavered, before she solidly stated;

"No"

"Oh? Even when i do this?" He put his hands around her onto her back and moved closer so they were chest to chest. She could feel his heartbeat thrumming right into her through him

"...no" Even to her own ears she sounded hesitant, damn herself for liking him. The defensive part of her really, really wanted to throw his hands off from around her and say something cutting, but the other, bigger part of her wanted to give in to what she really wanted. Which regrettably right now seemed to be quirky, arrogant, funny Mahad.

"Really? So you're SURE you don't want me to kiss you?" He inquired hopefully, in a last effort to get her to crack.

"...n-ohhh..." He'd leaned an inch closer as she spoke so she was looking straight up into his eyes. They had really pretty flecks of dark blue around the pupil, swirling out into a lighter blue around the edges. She sighed and thought: _' What the hell.' _Then she reached up quickly, going on tiptoes slightly, put a hand on either side of his face and pulled him down to kiss her.

* * *

He'd expected an outburst, her denying the fact, but she just...sat there. Then nodded. He didn't quite know what to say, she wasnt at all like most women he knew. Thankfully, she broke the silence for him

"Can you hack the sphere files again so i can see? I need to see what's there." She stood up expectantly, as if he'd already agreed to it. "You're HQ is this way right? you run things from that lighthouse don't you?" It almost freaked him out how much she knew about the block when she'd only been here less than a day.

In the time he'd taken to be amazed, she'd walked off and he had to jog to catch up with her. "Listen, you can't just walk in there unnanounced and-"

"But i will be announced. By you." She looked sideways at him and shot him a smile that lit up her face. As in she literally glowed ghost-like from inside, lighting up her features so that they looked almost flawless. It was beautiful to watch. "Please?"

He sighed, "i guess i could - hey! watch the-!" she walked through the door without so much as a second glance, leaving him standing there amazed. Then a ghostly arm appeared back through the door, grabbed his jacket and yanked him through the door. He had a sensation something like walking through jelly. The door wobbled around him for a split second as he was pulled forwards through it by Maria's hand, the particles of the door sealing up behind him. On the other side he barely had time to blink before he saw Maria walking away up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse.

"But..locked door..restricted access" he gestured behind him. She stopped and turned to look at him, putting a hand on her hip.

"Do i seem like an 'out of bounds, lets play by the rules' sort of person?" she asked sarcastically, before laughing and taking the stairs two at a time upwards. He caught up then overtook her easily with his long strides taking him up three steps at a time. She tried to catch up as they ran up the narrow winding staircase of the lighthouse, bumping into each other. Then she started cheating, using her powers to fly up the stairs backwards in midair while laying on her back. Arms folded, she kept pace with him easily, then looked at him panting as he ran up the stairs before remarking;

"You should go to the gym, getting out of breath like that just from running up stairs is verrry bad y'know." She grinned as she lazily drifted beside him.

"Easy for you to sa-ARGH!" He stumbled on the edge of a stair and plunged sideways, catching her between him and the wall. The back of her head hit the wall with a resounding CRACK while he hit her and then the floor

Dizzy slightly, he stood and placed his hands onto the wall to steady himself, closing his eyes. Maria stood between his hands and reached out to take his face in both hands. He opened his eyes questioningly and she gazed into them, studying them carefully. She sighed, and slid her hands upwards to feel around his temples, probing lightly with her fingers. It was actually really relaxing, she had very soft fingertips.

"Well, you haven't done any great damage when you hit your head on the floor, i dont _think_ that you have concussion." She reached around to touch the back of her head and winced slightly, bringing her hand back around revealed fresh blood on her palm, which she wiped dismissively on her trousers.

"Lemme see?" he slurred. she rolled her eyes and turned around, parting her hair. He studied the back of her head closely, but although there was a small slick patch of hair that had blood in it, there was no wound to be seen.

"I'm fine, really." she reassured him glancing over her shoulder at him. Embarassingly, his throbbing head took that moment to spin and he grabbed hold of her around her waist, wrapping his arms around her as he swayed dangerously. She placed her hands lightly on his, letting him lean against her back, putting his head on her shoulders as he groaned.

"It's okay, just breathe, we'll get you upstairs in a minute..."

"And who the hell are you?" The ginger pirate was there on the stairs above her. As soon as she turned and he saw her face his eyes narrowed. "YOU?" He glanced at Wayan clutching hold of her and directed his full evil glare upon the stricken pirate

"WAYAN? What in the blazes do you think you're doing? Fraternising with, with..HER!" The pirate captain spluttered in apocalyptic anger.

"Your crewman had a fall, he got dizzy and had to grab hold of me."

"S' true" Wayan glanced up at Cortes blearily. The captain took his word for it, but still glared at Maria distrustingly.

"I'll get a stretcher for him to be taken to sick bay and-"

"No need." Maria turned around in wayans arms and his head drooped down onto her chest as his legs started buckling. Cortes had to give it to her, the girl had to be strong if she could hold up Wayan, who was twice her size. Then she amazed him even further by picking up his leiutenant and grimly stating;

"Lead the way."

* * *

Lena was in a little happy bubble, sitting on a patch of grass with her legs dangling over the edge of the block, twirling a ring lee had given her around her finger. Smilling, she stood and brushed herself off before beginning her walk back to town, trailing her hand along a set of railings that lined the garden of the house her family were staying in. She hauled herself upstairs, yawning as she entered her room, found her pillow missing off her bed and rolled her eyes. Mahad was always stealing it to use for himself. She left her room and walked across to his quietly, in case he was sleeping.

Cracking open the door, the first thing she saw was Mahad and Dahlia laying curled up in bed together, thankfully covered by the bedsheets. Then she spied her pillow on Dahlia's side of the bed. Tiptoeing in and grabbing it quickly (Well, Dahlia wasn't using it, she was using Mahad's chest for a pillow) she then left and closed the door quietly behind her shaking her head.

What on earth did Dahlia see in him?

* * *

**Thanks ****Ford Expert for your reviews (both you and your friend), i'm really glad someone likes my story :) I'll try and do as much MaD as possible in future, sorry this is a bit of a small chapter, but next chapter i'm intending to focus entirely on them, should be up within the week, i go onto my holidays soon so will be able to update more regularly.**


	10. The morning after

**Since you're on your knees begging fordexpert, i will give you not one...but TWO chapters :) sorry again for spelling/grammar mistakes, i wrote this in a hurry.**

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**Chapter 9**

Dahlia sighed and opened her eyes, blinking in the sunlight streaming in through the gap between the curtains. Smiling, she cast her gaze around Mahad's room. Her clothes were crumpled in a pile on a chair that sat in front of his cluttered desk. His clothes were thrown unceremoniously over the end of the bed they both lay in. She rolled back over onto her right side and lay her head on his shoulder, absent mindedly stroking his chest with her left hand. He was laying flat on his back, head angled towards her slightly, face frowning slightly as he slept. Leaning towards him, she kissed him gently, waking him. As his eyes opened and he saw her, the frown transformed into a delighted smile. He laughed and pulled her to him, embracing her.

"So it wasn't a dream?" he whispered in her ear, then kissing her neck softly. Dahlia grinned. What had happened between them last night had most definitely not been a dream. She froze, her gaze caught by the clock on Mahad's bedside table, which she had seen over his shoulder.

"SHIT! It's 8am! Cortes is gunna kill us, we were needed at the St Nazaire half an hour ago for our shift!" Drawing out of his arms regretfully, she flung back the covers (causing Mahad to grumble about the cold) and stepped gingerly around the assorted rubbish on his floor. Upon reaching the chair, she started to pull on her clothes over her quite skimpy underwear while Mahad lay back in bed, hands clasped behind his head, watching her thoughtfully and smiling.

"What is it?" she asked him, frowning as she did her belt up.

"Nothing, just you're beautiful" He said it in such a sincere, smiling way that she couldn't think what to say, so just blushed and walked back over to the bed to kiss him and curl up in his arms thinking:

_What the hell, i mean, five more minutes wont hurt them, i doubt cortes needs my help that much. Maybe i'll stay ten minutes instead, yeah, ten minutes will be fine..._

* * *

Mahad grinned into her hair as she cuddled up to him. He'd got her to stay with him. After five minutes or so, her breathing deepened and he gentle wriggled out from under her. Pulling the covers up around her and kissing her forehead, he dressed quietly and went downstairs.

"Mahad?" Mila's voice came from the living room as he passed it on his way to the front door. He sighed and walked into the room, avoiding Mila's gaze in slight embarassment. He knew what was going to come next, his mum wasn't stupid enough to be unaware of Dahlia sleeping upstairs in his room.

"So. Mahad...When were you going to tell me you and Dahlia are dating?" Mila smiled at him, easing a little of his unwillingness to talk.

"Erm, well, its kinda a sudden thing..."

"Ahhh, so you're only newly together?" Mila nodded knowingly "I thought you two would be together someday, you have that chemistry your father and i had" She chuckled and stood from the chair she'd been sitting in.

"Will she be needing breakfast?" she asked her son, to which he replied with a quick reply before hurriedly leaving. The front door slammed. "Young love" Mila laughed to herself and went to the kitchen to start cooking some bacon for Dahlia, Lena and herself.

Okay, so that had been majorly weird, but at least his mum was okay with him and Dahlia. He laughed slightly at the thought of what Dahlia was going to face with his mum when she woke, then felt slightly guilty. But not very guilty.

Jogging to the ship, he crashed in through the door to the cabin, where he found Cortes pacing angrily.

"And where _exactly _have you been Mahad?" The ginger haired captain's jaw was clenched so hard it looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. It wasn't a flattering image. He looked somewhat like a fish.

"Oh, sorry, i slept in, Dahlia's not feeling too well, she said to tell you she'll be in later." The lie slipped out of his lips perfectly. Of course, Cortes would totally forgive Dahlia being late this once, because she was "the good one". Mahad on the other hand was late every day, a fact that Cortes always lamented and berated Mahad for.

"Well, Mahad, be that as it may, i could really have done with both of you being here on time. That ghost girl, Maria, is in the sick bay patching up Wayan." He spat the girls name distrustfully, but Mahad just rolled his eyes.

"God, Cortes, why are you so psycho over her? She could be an ally-"

"Because, Mahad" Cortes began, then glanced around at a noise from the doorway. There was nobody there. He continued in a hissed whisper

"When we picked her up off of Ningxia, we searched her pockets after she 'died', which by the way, i still do not understand" He frowned, shaking his head. "anyway, we found a bomb Mahad, a BOMB! God only knows what she was planning to do with it, but considering she was on a rebel block, had a bomb in her pocket and her sister has ties with the sphere, i'm not inclined to think she's an ally of ours."

Mahad sighed, scratching his head. "Sounds bad Cortes." The captain laughed scornfully. "Bad? It gets worse." motioning for Mahad to follow him, he walked over to a computer and brought up the security feed from the sick bay. The image flashed up showing Maria sitting asleep in a chair next to Wayans bed. Wayan was awake, sitting up watching her sleep. Then he reached out and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Mahad sighed.

"I see. You want to get rid of her, but you do anything and Wayan'll flip out because he likes her. Damn it. Can't you tell him about the bomb?"

"That will just hurt him." sighed Cortes. "Can you imagine it? Sorry wayan, the girl you love is a bomb-wielding sociopath who tried to kill all of us."

Mahad grimaced."That WOULD be bad." Cortes nodded and switched the screen off.

* * *

Dahlia groaned as she woke up in Mahad's bed for the second time that day. Rubbing her eyes, cursing him in head for being so relaxing, she yawned and began to turn over.

"You should have woken me-" She blinked. The bed was empty next to her. Scowling, she jumped out of bed, pulled on her boots, and was walking towards his door when it opened, revealing Lena on the other side. Mentally thrown, Dahlia hesitated, wondering what to say. She'd forgotten about Lena and Mila completely, GOD! What was Mila going to think about her staying the night with her son? What would she SAY? Dahlia gulped and Lena grinned.

"Hey Dahlia, mom says breakfast is ready. Mahad said you'd be hungry when you woke so we made extra for you..." Lena's chatter flew through Dahlia's panicked mind, barely registering. She cut Lena off quickly.

"Hey, lena, so is erm, is your mum, well, is she..okay...with me and Mahad y'know...spending the night together?" She could have smacked herself, why couldn't she just get the words out? Lena was old enough to understand.

"Yeah, sure she is, i mean, she hasn't killed you or Mahad, so..." Lena trailed off, smiling. Feeling a bit better, Dahlia followed her down the stairs to the small dining room, where the table had been set for three. She frowned.

"Is Mahad not here?"

"No, he went to work without eating, weird, isn't it?" Dahlia nodded and they both laughed. She should really be at work, but she didnt want to offend Mila and Lena, so she'd eat this breakfast quickly and run to the St Nazaire at the docks.

"Dahlia? Could you come to the kitchen a minute?" Mila's voice drifted through the air. Dahlia smiled at Lena, left the seat at the table that she'd taken and entered the kitchen, hanging around the door.

Mila turned from the bread she was buttering and smiled. "I've just realised, you were meant to be on shift today with Mahad werent you?" Dahlia nodded and Mila laughed. "Don't look so serious Dahlia, i'm not going to shout at you for being with my son, because he loves you." Mila's laughter lines crinkled around her face as she smiled warmly at the pirate girl. Dahlia felt a great rush of appreciation for the older woman. Her own mother had died when she was younger, but Mila's loving smile was exactly the same as her mother's had been; tender and understanding.

"Now." Said Mila, filling two pieces of bread with crispy, succulent smelling bacon, "You should already be there, so i'll excuse you having to sit and eat with us, take this to eat on your way." She handed Dahlia the bacon sandwhich, which she'd considerately wrapped in a napkin so that it wudn't burn the young woman's hands.

"Thank you Mila, it looks delicious, bye Lena!" hardly believing her luck, dahlia left the small house and started making her way to puerto angel's docks to face Cortes, find Mahad and maybe... her devilish thoughts added, spend a bit of intimate time with him when cortes wasn't around...

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**I have to move away from Puerto Angel for a while i'm afraid, for the sake of the story line. Thing's will soon start to link up with regards to things in other chapters, so you'll have to watch out for them.**


	11. Sasha

**Disclaimer: i do not own Skyland or it's characters, if i did, Mahad and Dahlia would be together, marry and have many mini Mahads and Dahlias.**

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**Chapter 10**

_Flagship: Olympus, two weeks ago_

She spiralled down towards the sphere's base of operations. It was similar to one of those aircraft carriers that used to float in the old earth oceans, but instead of oceans it floated in the sky and the topside of it was covered in grass, not runways. The patrollers were all docked in a hangar inside the 'ship', the opening of which was in the side of the ship, towards the base. However, she wasn't headed for the hangar. Her sleek, new glossy black patroller was the only ship other than oslo's private patroller that had permission to land upon the surface of Olympus.

She laughed. Olympus. These Sphere cretins were so presumptious, they named their base after the home of the gods. But she had a part to play, and she'd play it well, for Maria, for Dominic, for all of the family. God knows, she'd been doing it for twelve years, since they'd recaptured her. She shuddered inwardly, replaying that day's horrific events in her head.

She'd been sixteen, walking through the market with Maria, invisibly "shopping" for her family. Shopping being defined as surreptitiously stealing from Sphere stalls. Then the weirdest thing had happened. A young guardian, maybe twenty three or so, had been standing nearby, wearing a strange, visor-like apparatus on his head. He'd appeared to be looking straight at her, but she'd quickly dismissed the thoughts as paranoid. He was probably looking at something through her. Picking up a few bottles of water, slipping them into her bag, she noticed him drawing slowly nearer to her. Forcing herself to stay calm, she placed the last water bottle in her bag, reaching out mentally to her sister.

_"Ria, theres someone here, a guardian, he's wearing a weird visor thing, i think he can see me, it might be heat vision or something, can you see anyone around you wearing something like that?"_

_"No, i can't, it must just be him, careful sash-"_

Jolting in surprise, Sasha realised that the guardian was only a few feet away, looking at the wares on the stall she'd been stood at. She smiled, relaxing. He'd been looking at the stall, not her! rolling her eyes, she hitched her bag higher over her shoulder and turned, walking away. A sharp pin prick sensation began in the back of her arm, turning she found a hyperdermic needle sticking out of her arm and the Guardian looking directly at her through his visor, a dart gun in his hands. So he HAD been able to see her! She felt woosy, like she was going to fall over any second. Everyone was looking at her, so she guessed her invisibility had faded. She leant against a house wall, became immaterial and staggered through it, crashing to the floor within. Laying there, She turned immaterial again for a moment to hide the provisions under the floorboards. Then she grabbed Maria's consciousness, sending an image of where she was, where she hid the supplies and ideas of danger, the sphere and the guardian with the visor. Maria's panicking mind fluttered briefly against hers, full of concern and worry. The only message Sasha could sent back was GET OUT OF HERE! COME BACK FOR THE SUPPLIES LATER! before her body stiffened and the needle's contents paralysed her completely, turning her thoughts foggy and unclear.

There were footsteps and the guardian appeared, crouched next to her. He pulled off the visor to reveal cold, grey eyes below cropped blond hair.

That was the first time she met Oslo. And she'd hated him ever since.

* * *

Oslo drummed his fingers upon the metal garden table in front of him, sipping iced tea from a cup. His gaze passed over the beautiful garden he sat in, whose luscious flowers, lawns and trees boasted of a lot of water being wasted on it. The top of his new ship looked completely unguarded, but infact was near impenetrable. The top of the sphere's new flagship was the size of several olympic football pitches and was covered entirely by grass. In the Centre, a perfectly ordianry, albeit rather large house stood. Then around this house was a ring of maze like private gardens. Beyond this personal garden the top of the ship's top was split into three sections, the landing area, all smooth, perfectly manicured lawn, then another section was a dense forest, complete with wildlife like deer, rabbits and foxes.

The third section was intended as a sign of the Sphere's immense power and wealth. It was an artificial ocean, complete with coral reef and an offshore island. Over-all, Oslo took great pride in his state of the art ship. It truly was the home of the gods. But of course, it couldnt function without protection. A slight heat haze was all that gave away the invisible force field encompassing the entire top side of the ship, which both deflected enemy fire and gave an electric pulse to any ship landing without permission, knocking out the vital systems and causing it to crash.

Oslo caressed the cup and alowed himself a rare smile. He was untouchable. A god.

* * *

It disgusted her, really, the water in that ocean could save a million people from death by thirst. Although, it was exceedingly beautiful. Waves crashed on a sandy shore which was strewn with pebbles here and there. As she flew over it she was already mentally making plans to check it out in more detail that evening, slightly disgusted at her own selfish desire. Soon she was landing on the vast lawns of Olympus and met her entourage of seijin brigs, who stomped noisily alongside her as she made her way across the grass and into the circle of gardens surrounding the manor. They left her at the entrance to a tunnel of rose bushes, which twisted up on either side of her and over her head. The smell was gorgeous and surrounded her as she walked through them, following the sounds of falling water. At the end of the tunnel, she paused for a moment, her back to the clearing ahead and tried to reach up and grasp one of the roses above her head, which was in full bloom.

Raising herself onto her tiptoes, arm fully extended, she snatched for it, failed, overbalanced and fell onto her backside painfully and ungracefully. Groaning loudly and uttering a not to quiet DAMMIT!, she felt rather than heard someone as they brushed past her. Looking up, the sunlight blinded her and she blinked foolishly until they blocked out the sun and she could see their face. As she feared, it was Commander Oslo. Unexpectedly, he was holding out his hand to her. She accepted it courteously and he pulled her to her feet with unexpected strength for someone so pale and, frankly, sickly looking. He glanced upwards and plucked the rose down easily, handing it to her. There was a strange expression on his face for a moment before he masked it in a cold, professional way and walked away into the clearing.

* * *

His new second in command wouldn't do at all. He hadn't read her file yet, but he was already decided. She would have to go. She looked totally unsuited to the job - her long silky hair would get in the way and that dress she was wearing wasn't proper uniform. Well, it was technically uniform, female officers did have the right to wear an adapted skirt or dress uniform, just most chose not to because of their impracticality. This woman's dress was black and quite figure hugging, he couldnt help noticing that it fit her very well. But except from that, there was the matter of the rose. Why had he got it down for her? It was completely unlike him and might give across the wrong message. Unless that was the message he deep down wished to convey. But if the reason he gave her it was that he was attracted to her there was even more reason for him to not take her on as his second in command. Nevertheless, he found his mouth saying in an unemotional way

"Welcome to Olympus..." He glanced at the file and read her name quickly "Sasha, I hope you will enjoy working with me here..."

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**You know the drill, read, review, i love knowing what you people think :)**


	12. A little white lie

**Enjoy reading : ) (fordexpert, i put my note replying to your reviews at the end of the chapter, so it doesn't spoil the action coming...)**

**Chapter 11**

Mahad dumped the boxes down onto the ground, wiping grease off his hands and onto his trousers. Turning around, he leant against the railing that surrounded the deck of the St Nazaire and looked out at the morning. Dahlia would probably be waking up around now. He grinned at the thought of her stirring, sitting up in his bed and running a hand through that gorgeous blond hair of hers. A quick, darting movement at the edge of his vision caught his eye and he flicked his gaze over to Shannon, running full pelt down the docks, sobbing, a piece of paper screwed into one hand. Frowning, he walked slowly along the ship towards the dock side, trailing one hand across the railing. Shannon pounded over the gang plank connecting the ship to the dock and flung herself into his arms. Surprised, he puts his arms loosely around her and patted her back, not wanting to push her away and upset her more. She was still his friend after all.

"Whats wrong?" He asked, pulling away a bit and taking her chin in one palm, turning her face towards him. She sniffed and he wiped a tear back from her eye automatically, used to comforting Lena when she was upset. Shannon looked at him through mournful tear filled eyes, then rerached up and kissed him, quick and sudden, taking his face between both of her hands and crushing his lips with hers.

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Eyes wide in disbelief, Dahlia staggered back around the corner she'd just turned into the docks and collapsed down against the alley wall, leaning her head back onto the stone. She shuddered, eyes closed, tears leaking out their sides. Swiping them away angrily, she sniffed and blinked around. Sticking her head slightly back around the corner, she saw Mahad leaning with both arms on the side of the ship, staring straight ahead while Shannon stood to his side, speaking to him. Mahad looked a little angry, but he was too far away for her to tell clearly. Then Shannon layed a hand on Mahad's arm and he turned to look at her, then hugged her.

Tearing her gaze away, she stood and started running further into the alley, cursing herself for thinking Mahad thought her special in any way. Then she slowed and stopped. If she didnt turn up questions would be asked. Well, she would calm down a bit then go to work as usual. Act like nothing had happened. Yeah, nothing at all. It wasn't like he'd meant that much to her anyway. The self centred arrogant bastard. No, he hadn't met anything to her. She checked her reflection in a nearby window. Ooooo-kayyyy, she looked a little like she'd been crying, but the tears had stopped now. She had no doubt that they'd start again later, but right now if she had any hope of getting through the day without collapsing into a wailing bundles of tears she was going to have to make herself murderously angry at Mahad and let the anger propel her through the pain. Right now she wasn't going to cry any more tears for that retard, that was for certain. She ran her hand through her hair once, mentally steeled herself, turned around and walked coolly back up the alley, out onto the docks, over the gang plank, onto the ship, passed Shannon, resisted tripping the bitch over the side of the ship to tumble screaming to her death ( which was a VERY tempting thought), started to walk past Mahad, who spoke as she passed.

"Don't i get a hello?" He remarked cheerfully, leaning against the wall arms cross, grinning at her. She had already walked past him, but turned her head coldly to reply;

"Hello." before turning back around and striding off towards the captains cabin.

She knocked and entered straight away, not wanting to wait outside near mahad. Cortes glanced up, eyebrow raised. She walked in and sat down in a chair.

"Do come in, why don't you, just make yourself at home..." He stopped, frowning. "Dahlia, have you been crying?" He always took especially good care of the young woman, not because he had any romantic designs on her, but because, well, she reminded him of someone. He shook himself mentally, caught in memories, which thankfully distracted him enough that he didnt notice Dahlia's hesitation before sniffing and murmuring

"Hayfever, sir, thats all."

* * *

God women were so weird, SERIOUSLY!

Last night Dahlia's pouring her heart out to me and now she's treating me like a disease! And Shannon! God how embarassing. It was the brushing away the tear business, damn he SO shouldn't have done that. He sighed. At least it was behind him now, this thing with Shannon. God...

_The kiss was slightly frightening, and it only lasted a surprised second before he broke away, spluttering and blushing. "Shannon, what? I mean..." He turned away, not wanting to see the surprised hurt in her eyes at his rejection. "You're a nice girl and everything, but me and Dahlia, well, we're..." he smiled, remembering Dahlia falling asleep in his arms last night. "We're in love, you see?" Beside him, shannon groaned._

_"God...I'm so stupid, i thought you wanted me to...you were hugging me and we were standing so close...i thought..." She put her hand on his arm "Is this going to be a problem between us? I would never have done it if i realised..."_

_"It's fine" he cut her off quickly, trying to save her from embarassment. He leant against the side of the ship, looking straight out into the distance. The silence between them was thick enough to cut with a blunt knife, searching for something to say, he remembered his initial question when he saw her._

_"So what is wrong?" he glanced at her face and was immediately sorry for bringing the subject up because her face immediately crumpled into more sobs. He turned and hugged her hard, wrapping his arms right around her this time._

_"It's my mum" she hiccuped in distress. "She's been taken away, she couldn't pay her water tax, and the sphere came and got her from the farm we used to live on together. She stayed there when i left to come join the pirates, she didnt want to take the risk of being captured here. My old neighbour sent me this letter telling me. I just got it." She broke away and wiped her eyes, then smiled wanly. "I'm sorry about this, really, i'm being stupid and my brain went blaaargh" She pulled a face to demonstrate what blaaargh meant and they both laughed, despite themselves. He glanced down at the docks and saw Dahlia powerwalking towards the ship, frowning. He grinned and Shannon sighed._

_"I'd better go before i make your girlfriend go all possessive" she laughed, and turned to leave, waving over her shoulder. With her back to him, he hadn't been able to see the smug smile that briefly stole across her face before hiding itself quickly as she passed Dahlia. _

Only when she was five minutes down the road did she allow herself a self satisfied laugh. She unlocked her front door and let herself into her flat, tossing the paper to the side. Her mother had died when she was four. She smiled at her reflection as she passed the mirror. A neat idea, really, to write a letter from her "neighbour". Made things more believable. Of course, it didnt really matter if he did believe her or not. All that mattered was that she'd got that kiss in and poor, sweet Dahlia who she'd seen coming over Mahad's shoulder had seen it. It was great that Mahad had hugged her just as Dahlia had another glance around the corner too. Dahlia's face! Shannon chuckled to herself. Like a child being told christmas is canceled...

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**Author's note:**

**Fordexpert, you and your BFF may actually be psychics , because i was already intending for Dahlia and Mahad to have a little bit of a fight. After all, couldn't have them happily set up together without a bit of DRAMA first ;). I was actually going to put this chapter after the next chapter, but because of your review i thought you'd like to see this chapter first, i'll just wiggle the chapter order around, the story will still make sense (hopefully). **


	13. Skinny dipping?

**A/N: I hadnt realised the chapters were short, thanks ****for telling me ****Someonerandome** **, i pretty much type out what i have in my head for half an hour, get it to a reasonably sensible place and finish there. i'll try making the chapters a bit longer in future, hows that? Thanks Fordexpert for your consistent reviewing, i've started playing a game in my head of estimating how many times you'll have reviewed on the new chapter. And yeah, Dahlia will be devastated, but thats another chapter, another time, sorry. Time for more Olympus action with Oslo and Sasha (Don't know how you feel bout romances involving him, but i kinda like them, him being a psycho makes it more interesting) its necessary, trust me. The storyline is going to get very complicated very quickly after this, feel free to ask questions and give suggestions. Enjoy reading everybody. Oh and a pre warning, this chapter is quite M rated towards the end, bit nasty, we find out about the compound Sasha & Maria lived in as kids.**

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**Chapter 12**

_**Flagship Olympus: two weeks ago.**_

Sasha dangled her legs over the jetty leading out into the artificial ocean, feet trailing through the clear water. She leant backwards, supporting her weight on her hands, leaning her head back to watch clouds drift by. It was absolutely baking, but she had nothing to swim in. She hadn't exactly anticipated having access to a large body of water. She'd never seen a large body of water before for crying out loud, they didnt exist. Well...normally they didnt.

It was half an hour since she'd spoken with Oslo in the rose garden. She'd had to resist slapping him upside his face the entire time. He kept half smiling at her creepily, like someone had reminded him to be nice to her. So fake. She'd only got through his talk about her qualifications and endured his guided tour of the house and the room she would sleep in by imagining vicious ways to kill him. (She'd thought that the best way would be to go immaterial, reach inside him and pull out his intestines, slowly unravelling them in front of his eyes and using them to choke him. Then decided that would be too quick). She was sleeping in the room next to his, which unnerved her completely and again provided the temptation of a sneaky nightime murder. Then they'd walked out of the house together in silence and he'd dismissed her.

And now she was here, off duty, wishing she could jump in and cool down in the water. She chewed her lip and looked around. There was nobody around. Well...What harm could it do to strip off and jump in...? The only humans on the ship were her, Oslo and the house servants, who were confined to the house and its surrounding ring of gardens. Oslo had mentioned paperwork, so he wouldnt be around and no servants came here...She nodded. What the heck, she was too damn hot to argue with her sensible side.

Standing up, she peeled off her dress over her head and removed her underwear. Then, grinning, she took a few steps back, ran forwards and dove perfectly down off the wooden planking into the glistening water.

* * *

Oslo was in his study signing papers to legalise the arrest of several renegades. Every now and then he would glance at the screen that showed the security camera feeds from all over the island. He didn't know why he was interested in what his second in command was getting up to in her free time. Curiosity, he decided, plus to try and find common ground between them. After all, he was going to have to work with her for several years at least. They'd be less...tedious...if the two of them could get along. He was lying to himself of course. Deep down he knew he was attracted to her, physically at least. It wasn't emotional, he could control his emotions. His body's reactions to her however were somewhat uncontrollable. He winced. At least she hadn't noticed.

She'd wandered straight down towards the ocean. It figured really, in a world lacking water you had to be amazed by the scale of water contained in one place. She'd been sitting on the edge of the wooden jetty for ten minutes, looking at the sky. He knew because there was a camera stationed in the tree line facing directly outwards in line with the jetty, surveying the ocean. He was wondering if she'd ever move when suddenly she stood up. He frowned and set his papers aside.

She ran her hands up her legs, grasping the folds of her dress and pulling it upwards, revealing pale smooth thighs and a curvacious back. He coughed and glanced away, uncomfortable with his body's reaction and the invasion of her privacy. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her reach towards her underwear, sliding it down-

He stood and turned away, heading out the door. He needed a walk. And she needed telling about the camera before one of the security technicians overseeing the cameras spotted her. He grimaced. Those men were slightly...dishonourable. He wouldn't put it past them to record their attractive new superior officer while she got out of the water and dried off. For the moment, she was okay; in the water she couldn't be seen by the camera. But if she decided to come out... He paused in the equipment cupboard for a moment to grab a towel before leaving the house at a quick pace, then speeding up into a slight jog. He shook his head. It wasn't dignified, him doing this. He wasn't a physical person by nature and his field training was years ago. As the highest ranking officer he was mainly called upon to complete paperwork, organise squads, sign assassination warrants and so on. Jogging quickly uphill towards a skinny dipping woman in sweltering heat, dressed in full length uniform was not part of the job description. He slowed as he neared the artificial beach, not wanting to surprise her (and also to get his breath back, not that he admitted it). There was no sign of her on the jetty so he cautiously began walking across it.

* * *

She was sitting on the sea bed cross legged, eyes open. Sunlight filtered down to her through the gaps in the wooden boards above her. A shadow crossed over her face as the light from one of the gaps was blocked. Turning her eyes upwards, she discerned a rough foot print blocking the light. Someone was standing above her on the jetty. She kicked off the surface, her body rippling silently through the water, breaking the surface quietly. She floated upwards a little, pressing her eye to the gap and looking up to see who was there. She groaned mentally. Commander Oslo.

* * *

Well, he felt really stupid now he was standing there. It wasn't as if it mattered to him whether or not she disgraced herself. He let out an irritated sigh. What did he care if the security stared at her wet naked body? An inner part of him growled at the thought of anybody looking at Sasha in that way. Because she was his colleague, of course. Nothing more than that. He cast his eyes down. God. He'd only met the woman half an hour ago and he was already feeling strangely towards her. Caught in his thoughts, at first he didnt notice the pair of eyes looking up at him through the planking. He cried out in suprise and staggered back, dropping the towel, before mentally berating himself for being so foolish.

"Commander?" Sasha's voice questioned from underneath him. Then her head appeared over the edge of the jetty. She half hauled herself onto it, clinging on with her arms so that only her head and shoulders were visible. He felt almost like blushing, like a schoolboy. He looked down, away from her moist body.

"I brought you a towel..."He muttered, shamefaced. There was the sound of her exiting the water and he turned around quickly, looking out towards the trees. There was the sound of her bare feet padding across the creaky boards towards him and a soft rustling. A hand touched lightly on his shoulder as she walked around to his side. He turned his head to watch her pass, wondering why she was frowning.

"I don't understand. How did you know i was here?" He quickly murmured his reason, leading her along the jetty, pointing out the camera while she blushed and chewed her lip. She had only the towel on, holding the dress in her hand. She had dropped the hand from his shoulder, instead her fingers were hooked through the straps of her shoes, allowing them to dangle from her hand. By unspoken consent they began walking slowly along the beach in silence. He wasn't sure what else to say. He tried not to look at her too much, wanting to avoid attracting her attention. At times like this he wished he had pockets to put his hands in; he never knew what to do with his hands while walking with someone. He settled for clasping them behind his back as he usually did, not realising how strange it made him look. After a while she stopped and turned to him, looking him straight in the eyes and sincerely said;

"Thank you. For saving me the embarassment i mean." She smiled slightly and before she even realised it stood on tiptoe and kissed him quickly on the cheek. They both looked at each other for a minute, blinking, then she looked down, turned and hurried away, wondering why the hell she'd just done that.

* * *

Oslo watched her going in confusion. Most people avoided him like a leper, but she'd walked with him, she'd KISSED him! He frowned, reaching up to touch his cheek. Then shook his head. This was wrong. He couldn't allow this. Tomorrow he'd reassign her elsewhere and forget all about her.

* * *

**Puerto Angel**

Maria glanced at Wayan from the doorway. He was sleeping again, head bandaged. He'd be fine. Thats what she kept telling herself. But now she had to leave, for real this time. No more loitering around, wondering what to do about her mission. She shook her head. No. She wouldn't do it any more. It would compromise her family's safety, but maybe it was time they lived in the light, instead of skulking around the block they called home in constant fear. Now she knew what she had to do. She placed the note down on the table next to the bed, where someone would see it. Hopefully, they'd trust her enough to follow the instructions in it.

* * *

**Flagship Olympus: Current day**

Sasha sighed and kicked off her shoes, massaging the back of her neck before collapsing onto her bed. In the two weeks she'd been at Olympus, Oslo had avoided her intensely and with great determination. She'd heard off of one of the servants that he'd tried to get her reasigned the day after she kissed him, but that the board who governed the sphere, the politicians behind the wheel had said no. She was too valuable a resource.

It was bacause of her ghost powers, she knew that. Though of course, she refused point-blank to use them. Or tell the sphere what they were, for that matter. When they first captured her she spent 3 years incarcerated in prison while they tried to make her work for them, use her powers for them. They'd given her poor food, miserable living conditions, but despite all that she was laughing at them internally. Because they didn't know what she had suffered at the compound, the private facility she'd spent her childhood in. They didn't know what she dreamt about as she slept.

She opened a draw and pulled out a bottle marked "sleeping pills" and upended it. Nothing fell into her palm. She swore and threw the bottle into the corner. When she slept naturally she remembered. She didn't want to remember.

* * *

He swallowed the small amount of amber liquid in his glass and set it upon his bedside table, not moving his eyes from his favourite book. He knew it was an unlikely choice of book, but it had belonged to his mother. There was a soft crying noise coming from behind his head. He frowned and turned around, looking at the wall behind the headboard of his bed. Beyond the wall was Sasha's room. He knew for a fact that her room was layed out symetrically to his room, so that when they were both laying in bed, they were laying facing outwards from each other, seperated by the wall. Something hit the wall, making him flinch. He pulled back the covers and got out of bed, leaving his room quietly and slowly pushed open sasha's door, whispering her name and asking if she was alright?

There was no answer but a quiet keening noise, like an animal in pain. He slipped arounded the door and groped around for a minute before finding her bedside light and switching it on.

Sasha was laying on top of her covers in a pair of grey sleeping shorts and a cropped white sports top, curled into a ball around the sheets. She was sweating and muttering, her eyes twitching under her eyelids. He hesitated. He'd seen enough dodgy soap opera's to know that he was meant to sit comfort her until she woke and tell her everythings going to be alright, stroke her hair and let her cry on his shoulder and so on, but he couldn't. It was all so...different to him. She screamed a name and thrashed in torment. He shook his head. He needed to know what she was dreaming about.

He sat on the bed next to her head and reached out with long spidery fingers, placing them on her temples, at the same time broadening his mind and reaching out to her mind with his seijin abilities. There was no resistance from her mind; normally seijins protected their mind from other seijins gaining access to their memories and thoughts. In sleep however, the barriers lowered to a minimum. He entered her mind stealthily and navigated through it carefully to the area that governed her current thought patterns, plunging himself into a sea of confusing memories.

* * *

**_Genesis Testing Facility: approx. 23 years ago_**

_He looked down. There was a child sitting next to him on a plastic chair, the type you get in hospital waiting rooms. A man in a big white coat came out of a door. The mans image was distorted by how Sasha remembered him. He had a sorrowful, yet smug face as he told her that her mother had died in childbirth. The baby was called Maria, he added, after her mother, they had decided. The five year old Sasha looked at him. Then she exploded into hot angry tears._

_"Don't WANT that Maria! I want my mum!" seijin bluefire crackled around her. The man stepped back, too afraid for his safety to comfort her. She looked straight at Oslo. _

_**Genesis Testing Facility: approx. 18 years ago**_

_He was in a canteen. It was full of the sound of silence and whispers. Sasha was sitting next to him again. She had doubled in age roughly. She looked at him with glazed eyes, her sleeping self half remembering who he was, but choosing to forget. All she knew was a vague sense of comfort that came from him. __He focused on the dreams events. There was a boy sasha's age opposite her. His name badge proclaimed him to be dominic. There was a little girl next to him. Maria. He frowned and looked around the table. Childrens names washed over him, unimportant. None of them could see him anyway. He didnt belong in the dream._

_"Annie's missing, Sasha, you can't avoid the fact. She was..."Dominic lowered his voice "She was special, like you, half ghost..." Sasha shushed him through gritted teeth, glaring around._

_"Well, so long as everyone keeps their gobs shut about what i can do i'm fine aren't i?" She gave Dominic a smart nod and continued eating, discussion closed._

_**Genesis Testing Facility: 17 years 7 months ago**_

_She screamed wordlessly as the electricity coursed through her body, shattering her nerve connections. One by one they pieced back together. Ah well. At least it hadn't been the limb regrowth tests this time._

_"Fascinating, they've already started repairing themselves, look" Scientists talked in a corner with each other. Oslo's eyes were wide. This was only one session._

_**Genesis Testing Facility: 17 years 6 months 27 days ago**_

_She'd recovered sufficiently for them to test her again. No painkillers of course, no, that might alter the results. It was her ghostliness, you see. She could recover from pretty much any wound. After all, she was a child of the undead. She eluded death every time. Now if only the scientist could work out the gene that helped her do that, they could SELL IT! Imagine an imortal army! Who wouldn't want one of them? Oslo sat next to her, hearing her thoughts as she waited in the cell she'd been kept in, away from the other children for the last 3 months. Three months of hell. She was the company's best guinea pig. Her and Annie. Annie was the lucky one. She'd left this world after 2 months of their extreme testing. But oh no. Sasha couldn't possibly take the easy way like annie had. She cried. Her best friend. She looked at the scar on her right hand, smiling. Blood sisters. That was weird you know, how she always had that scar, even after the tests._

_Guards opened her door, 8 guards for the special test subject. She stood up. She was so exhausted. No more fighting them anymore. No one to give her an easy way out. A tear glistened in her eye. Annie's face rose unbidden in her mind. She'd asked Sasha to kill her and she'd done it. She'd done it because she loved her friend. No more suffering for annie..._

_They tied her to the testing counter, a strap around each of her upper arms and lower arms, then two more upon each leg and one around her chest. The doctors prepared the saw for her arm. Every week she had to have this specific test. They cut off one arm and timed how long it took to grow back. Everytime they cut off her right hand, it grew back with the scar. That confused them. After all, if she healed everything, how could she have a scar?_

_Oslo closed his eyes, disgusted while the ten year old screamed and whimpered in agony as they cut through the bone with a blunt saw. There was a sickening crack and the arm was off. Sasha groaned. Oslo's nails bit into his hands as he scowled. The bastards werent giving her ANY pain relief! She was a little girl! It was just...wrong. He frowned. How was it that with all that he'd done, he still could be so disgusted by these men?_

_**Genesis Testing Facility: approx 17 years ago**_

_It was her birthday today. She could feel it somehow. With it came the tiniest of glimmers of hope. Half remembered, she knew that her mother had told her once when she was very young that half ghosts came into their full powers when they were 11. Sasha shook her head. There was no time to waste. No doubt the company would know this too. They'd come for her today, they'd try something new, something worse. They'd been testing her for 7 months now, over half a year. She'd got used to it. She was done being the victim. Now was her best chance and she was taking it. But first she needed Maria. _

_She stood. Now or never. Oslo watched her escape, smiling. Her sister and her hid on a sphere patroller and escaped. The company had severely underestimated Sasha. She was a much more powerful seijin than they realised. She found her sister and together they escaped and stowed away on a patroller. They flew to a small block together and set up a home. Maria rescued Dominic and some of the other children before they suffered the same fate that she had._

_He frowned and sat down on a dream rock, watching the happy family of children together. It didnt make Sense. There were footsteps behind him and the familiar hand on his shoulder._

_"Oslo? How are you here?" He turned and saw Sasha behind him. She sat next to him and they watched her younger self sparring with her sister, practising seijin and ghost skills together. He blushed, embarassed._

_"I heard you crying out in your sleep. I thought i could help with your bad dream." He looked around helplessly. "But...Its all ended happily?" A shadow passed over Sasha's face. She stood._

_"You need to leave. RIGHT NOW" but the scene was already changing to the market place, 12 years ago. She shook her head sadly. It was too late. Oslo watched his younger self capture her, felt every emotion going through her head of sorrow, fear for her sister and deep, deep hatred for him. He looked at Sasha, willing her to look at him. When she did she was crying and it filled him with guilt._

_"I'm what ruined your life, arent i?" He asked, wishing he could cry but his unfeeling eyes wouldn't let the tears out. She nodded sadly and the dream ended as his younger self took her dream self off to a sphere prison away from her family._

They woke, gasping, curled up together on her bed. Her eyes were wet until she swiped the tears angrily away, sitting up. He sat up too, reaching out to touch her arm quietly.

"You must hate me so much." He whispered glumly. He knew he certainly hated himself. He'd seen through her eyes, felt what she'd felt. Her anguish over it was unbearable. He half expected her to pull away from his touch, slap him, scream abuse at him even, but instead she turned and leant against his chest, crying quietly onto his bare skin. He shifted closer to her and she moved in response to him, sitting sideways across his lap. He clasped his arms around her, one going around her back and one around her front as she leant sideways against him, head nestled into his neck.

After ten minutes, her eyes started drfitly shut, so he gently shook her.

"You should go back to bed" He said quietly. "We BOTH should." She shook her head wildly.

"Don't leave me? please?" She implored him, eyes wide. He chewed his lip, then nodded.

"Okay."

* * *

**A/N wow, quite a long chapter. I apologise for any spelling mistakes people, i am finishing writing this at 1am. Right now i need SLEEP. Next chapter may be done by tomorrow (or actually today, since its technically morning right now). Let me know what you think of the chapter...**


	14. Jealousy

**SORRY! I've been really busy lately, just havent had the chance to update. So, here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy. This story actually doesn't have much left, only three chapters including this one :( but there will almost definitely be a sequel, since i have loads of ideas now my writer's block has gone. Only thing about the sequel is it will probably be rated M, because it will probably be a lot more adult, with a lot more swearing, action and possibly lemons.**

* * *

Maria closed her eyes, smiling as the wind currents tugged at her hair. She barrel rolled, avoiding crashing into a small piece of floating debris. Peurto Angel was far behind her. She felt a guilty pang at the thought of Wayan when he woke up and found her note, but mainly she just hoped that he would do as instructed. If he didn't, there would be major problems. The hulking form of Olympus appeared below her. She angled her body straight down, nose diving towards the vast expanse of water that covered a third of it.

* * *

Wayan opened his eyes, rubbing the sleep from them he yawned long and loud, stretching like a cat. He swung his legs down and out of bed. Frowning, he picked up the piece of paper from his bedside table. He was still in the sick bay of the St Nazaire, but he'd be going home today after the tour of Puerto Angel he'd insisted on giving to Maria. He grinned. He'd been up most of the night before talking to Maria. She was a really cool girl, if a bit troubled. She'd told him her story, after a while, about the compound she'd lived in the first 6 years of her life, how the children there vanished around her to be moved to different buildings, but that everyone had known something bad had happened to them really. Her sister was the only person to ever break out of the special buildings, she'd found Maria and taken her to a remote block. Then she'd come back for some of the other children. When the facility had realised what was happening, they moved to a different block. Maria had been searching for that block ever since her sister had been kidnapped, in an attempt to continue sasha's work.

He opened up the note, which was written in a hurried, slanted script that he didn't recognise.

_Wayan, i know you expected to be showing me around Puerto Angel today, but there are more important things going on which i have to tell you about. The day that we met, in Ningxia, i was supposed to be performing a service for the sphere. I know right this second as you read this you must be completely appalled at me, but please believe me, i did it for a very good reason, which i can't tell you yet._

_I need you to do something for me that is vitally important. There's a block at __50°04'N, 05°44'W__ that you need to go to. Tell the people there that I sent you. Then take them back to Puerto Angel with you. I have something to do. I know its a lot to ask, but please trust me, i need you to go there, or they'll probably come to harm._

_Love, Maria x_

He frowned and looked up from the message, folding the paper back over and tucking it in a pocket. He had to talk to Cortes.

* * *

"No. Absolutely bloody not." Cortes turned back to his newspaper, settling further back into his chair. Wayan practically growled at him.

"Why? There are people in possible danger! Cortes, we need to go to this place!"

"No we don't." Cortes sighed and removed his boot clad feet from the desk, throwing his paper down frustratedly. "Wayan, that girl is a liar! She was on Ningxia solely to blow the block and the pirates on it sky-high!"

"No. You're lying. Maria wouldn't do that. There must be a reason, she said there was a reason."

"Yeah and that reason is that she's a sociopath who works for the sphere!" He sighed. "Wayan, look, i know that you like the girl, but you have to face facts. Right now she's probably on the Olympus telling Oslo to send an ambush to the coordinates she gave us."

Wayan shook his head. Cortes wouldn't listen, the stubborn fool. Oh, no doubt, he was a good captain, but sometimes you had to take risks. As he left the room, he had already formed a plan in his mind. He would leave alone in one of the mosquitoes. No doubt Cortes would attempt to follow him, so he'd change ships at ningxia to throw him off. Swap the mosquito for something quite simple, but with room for these people he was supposed to be finding. He wasn't too worried about giving in the mosquito, when cortes arrived at ningxia he would get it back. The time it took cortes to retrieve the mosquito from an unwilling trader would give wayan the head start he needed.

Wayan smiled as he entered the launch bay for the mosquitoes. Everything would be fine. Cortes would see that soon.

* * *

Dahlia lay under a mosquito, fiddling with its sensors. It had been glitching a bit when she took it out for a flight the other day and she had decided to try and fix whatever the hell was wrong with it. Anything that took her mind off Mahad and Shannon was good. Twisting a particularly stiff bolt on the hatch that concealed the mosquito's control network, she heard footsteps off to her left but ignored them, concentrating on her work. Just as she sat up, a foot hooked under the small, wheeled board she was sitting on and whipped her out from under the machine, causing her to smack her head violently into the underside of the mosquito. Rubbing her head and glaring up at her attacker, she scowled and stood.

"Oops!" said Shannon, mock pouting "Did i hurt you? I'm sorry, i didn't realise your big head would get in the way" Dahlia scoffed.

"MY big head? That's rich, at least my head has some semblance of a brain in it! If a thought came into your head it would die of loneliness!" Shannon laughed and tossed her hair, pulling out a small compact.

"Well, whatever miss oh-so-clever. I'm not the one who got used as a one night stand. Jeez Dahlia, don't you get it? NOBODY loves you. Mahad even told me he had no idea what he was doing sleeping with you last night, said it was all a big mistake. I forgave him of course. I'm not going to break off a longlasting, loving relationship because the town tart seduced him." Dahlia's mouth was dry. He'd been with her a while? What? How was that possible?

"Oh, FYI you airhead waste of space, i am not the town tart, in fact, Mahad was my first" she blushed at the admittal, but continued "and you can say what you like about him, i KNOW he wouldn't say anything like that. Last night, he told me he loved me." Shannon laughed shrilly.

"Oh really? he _loves _you? Tell me Dahlia, did your mother say that too? Before she abandoned you to a group of pirates when you were a baby? And besides..."

Dahlia shivered and gripped the wrench she'd been using earlier tighter, knuckles turning white at the exertion. For a second she thought she could feel it bending as she seriously considered smacking the bitch around the face with the metal rod. It would certainly be very satisfying, but then shannon would only have another reason to go crying to Mahad. The remark about her mother was a low blow, even though Shannon couldn't possibly realise how low. Taking a deep breath, Dahlia tuned back into what Shannon was saying.

"he says your not that pretty, and i have to agree. With a face like yours i would expect you to wear at least SOME makeup, i mean god-"

"Let me tell you something, shannon" Dahlia quickly cut her off. Surprisingly, shannon let her. "You can paint an ugly building as nicely as you like, but its still the same ugly structure underneath. In other words, you can paint that greasy orange slap you call makeup on your face as thick as you like, but you'll still be ugly as fuck underneath it!" Shannon's eyes widened and brimmed with tears. She began sobbing pitifully. Dahlia snorted.

"Oh save it. Do you really think i believe those are real tears-"

"DAHLIA! thats ENOUGH!" Mahad brushed past her and looped an arm around Shannon, frowning disapprovingly at her. "Why were you being so rude to Shannon?"

"BECAUSE SHE'S A LYING COW!" Dahlia pointed her wrench at her accusingly, before waving her hand dismissively. "But whatever, Mahad. You're both perfectly matched for each other since you're both lying, preening idiots." She laughed and walked away, waving goodbye nonchalantly over her shoulder "You deserve each other!"

Mahad frowned bemusedly and looked at shannon.

"What the hell was that about?"

* * *

ohhh, YES, that felt good. Getting the last word was always verrrrry satisfying. Wayan jogged over to her quickly, panting.

"Dahlia, need...to leave...maria in trouble...going to ningxia...coming with me?" Dahlia considered before nodding brightly. Ningxia was beautiful this time of year, plus, she had a way of getting Mahad jealous.

"Alright Wayan" She slung her arm around him, which he blinked at, but didnt comment, "lets go to Ningxia" Wayan nodded and put his arm round her, grateful for the support after him running around the ship to find her. Maria had been right, he really needed to get fitter.

They entered the hangar together at a quick speed, Dahlia waltzing him over to the mosquitos, past Mahad, whom she greeted chirpily. He frowned at her as Mahad passed, shooting the pair of them a confused look.

"Dahlia, is everything okay with you and Mahad?" She sighed and lowered her voice conspirationally. Wayan had always been a trustable friend to her.

"I saw him kissing shannon this morning." Wayan nodded, understanding. So she was jealous. He closed the top of his mosquito and took off. Chuckling, he realised she'd been trying to do the same to Mahad, using Wayan to incite jealous fealings in the younger man. Judging by the look on Mahad's face when he'd seen them walking past arms wrapped around each other, it had probably worked...


	15. Deception

**Ah, the second to last chapter :( soon shall come the dramatic ending ;-) . Enjoy reading! Apologies for the delay...**

**Chapter 14**

_Flagship: Olympus_

Soft silver moonlight filtered through the windows, shedding an eery glow over her surroundings. She licked her cracked lips, one hand on the wall to her side, feeling her way through the semi-darkness. Beads of water dripped from her clothes onto the plush carpet. She reached a door and closed her eyes, breathing slowly in and out. She kicked the door inwards, raised her gun and fired, emptying the bullets into the room in the direction of the bed and its sleeping occupant.

There was noone there. There was a dull pain as someone hit her from behind and she thudded to the floor, confused and disorientated. Why wasn't he there?

* * *

Oslo frowned down at the girl, Maria. Sasha's sister, he dimly recalled. He sighed and placed Sasha's bedside lamp on the ground, grimacing as his fingers slid through the sticky blood on the base from where he'd broken the skin on Maria's head. Not exactly a conventional weapon, but it had been heavy enough to knock Maria out with one swift blow. Now he had to figure out what to do. Maria would have to be punished of course, she hadn't completed her task. But Sasha could not see her. He sighed. It was all so messed up.

Maria's family had been located years ago. Sasha served the sphere willingly to protect them from being captured and returned to the facility they'd escaped from. Then Maria had been caught by a guardian. Dehydration had made her faint, leading to her capture. Maria couldn't become a member of the sphere - Sasha would find out and rebel. But Maria could be useful to him; a one - off mission, then he would leave her alone. He'd used the same stick Sasha got beaten with; a threat to her family.

He frowned. The deception was in serious jeopardy now. Seizing Maria under her arms, he began dragging her down the hall. It was lucky, he thought, that he'd still been in Sasha's room, comforting her from her dream, or he would be dead by now.

* * *

_**Next Day...**_

The sunlight filtered through her eyelashes, stirring her from a deep sleep. In the short time between sleeping and waking, Sasha remembered last nights events and groaned mentally.

She'd been comforted by Oslo. OSLO for crying out loud. The big bad bat-shit crazy sphere commander. How could she have let it happen? She was getting sloppy. Still, no use lying here and fuming about it. She rolled over, peeking through one slit of an eye and sighing in relief. The bed next to her was empty. Thank God. If he'd still been there that would have been the most awkward situation of her life.

Five minutes later she was out of bed and opening her wardrobe, cringing at the thought of what was to come that day. Her "more appropriate" trouser uniform still hadn't arrived, and her bags of other clothes hadn't been brought up to the room yet, so she sighed before just throwing a white shirt she found hanging in the wardrobe on for now, she could change into her proper clothes after breakfast. All that was in the wardrobe apart from the shirt was the uniforms of the previous second in command, Diwan. Shuddering, she closed the wardrobe, not wanting to wear the dead woman's clothes. She would never like those restricting, jumpsuit style uniforms, but the fact they belonged to a dead person made the prospect of wearing them even nastier. Okay, so skirts weren't the greatest thing to wear when crawling about and kicking ass in the field, but she liked them. Plus, call it petty, but anything that pissed off Oslo was a good thing in her book.

She didn't even bother to glance in the mirror as she left, after all, its not like she was dressing to impress anyone and it was too early to be fussing over how she looked. If she looked like a tramp, what the heck. It was only Oslo that would see her. At the door, she paused uneasily and glanced back around the room. Something wasn't right. It was like those spot the difference pictures; there was something subtly wrong with her room. It clicked after a second, but made no sense whatsoever.

She swung her door shut behind her and set of down the corridor shaking her head. Why oh why, when he had stayed with her last night, had Oslo taken her lamp?

* * *

He was sipping an iced tea when she came down the stairs, although he nearly choked on his sip, coughing nervously to cover it up. She was wearing a white tailored shirt that came to her mid thigh. And nothing else. Her bare feet with red nails padded along the soft carpet as she walked straight past him towards the kitchen, rubbing her eyes blearily. Just when he was doubting that he'd actually seen her and was convincing himself that he'd been fantasizing, she reentered the shared dining room, nursing a cup of coffee between both hands. She flopped into the chair opposite him, somehow making the action seem graceful. He forced himself to return his eyes to his report for the morning from across Skyland.

Silence reigned for minutes on end. Steeling himself, he glanced up at her. He found her looking sideways, away from him and out of the eastern wall. This private dining room for the two highest officers had been built on the eastern edge of the house, with the whole of the room's eastern wall made of one sheet of glass stretching from floor to ceiling. Every morning, the sun rose in the east and filled the room with it's warming glow, allowing the seijins to start charging their power from the second the day began. The window looked out on the expansive gardens, then further out down the hill the artificial ocean could just about be seen winking lazily back at them, reflecting the sun beams tenfold.

He cleared his throat. "What are you looking at?" his question came out quietly and slightly hoarsely. He had never before actively sought for conversation between his first officer and himself, though they had always tried to befriend him, Diwan especially. Her nasal whingeing had been especially tiresome. Sasha's eyes flicked across to him and the thoughtful smile that had filled her face a moment ago disappeared. She shook her head, casting her eyes downwards meekly.

"Oh, nothing really. Just the ocean. I was wondering how deep it is." He frowned. She was lying. Before he could stop himself, he'd stated his thoughts aloud. She met his eyes defiantly, the fire back in them.

"Oh _REALLY_? Well, what business is it of yours about what i think anyway?" She folded her arms across her chest, leaning back. He tried to not look at the creamy skin exposed by the two top buttons she'd left undone, exposing her collarbone and the bare skin of her upper chest while leaving a lot to his imagination. He shook himself. She was his inferior, and thoughts like this about her were definitely inferior.

"Don't forget the deal Sasha. You do exactly as you are told, or your family will suffer for it." He stared her down grimly as her eyes flickered, filling with tears. Not tears of sorrow, he new instinctively, but of rage at her powerless situation. She stood and looked out the window again, frowning against the sunlight.

"If you must know, I was thinking about how beautiful the gardens are here, and how when my mother was killed, my father set roses just like those ones out there growing on her grave."

"But your father's a ghost, he can't do that."

"He _WAS _a ghost. He moved on when my mother died. He placed a blessing on the grave though. The flowers grow wherever my mothers spirit is present, or has been present. They grow all around the compound my family live on." Sasha laughed softly. "But you already knew that, didn't you. After all, you've been keeping an eye on my family for years, keeping me away from them just to torture me."

He was struck slightly speechless as she left the room, his fingers curling around the glass of liquid in his hand until it shattered, digging into his palm. Drops of claret blood dribbled down through his fingers onto the report below his hand. He didn't notice.

* * *

**Ningxia**

"Have you seen this man?" Cortes thrust a mugshot of Wayan under the terrified market seller's nose. The man shook his head, backing away from the enormous, red faced pirate in front of him. Practically growling, Cortes stalked off towards where Mahad was chatting to a group of people, showing the picture around to much shaking of heads. He glanced over at Mila and Lena as the approached him. They shook their heads. Nobody had found anything.

Through the crowd, Lee's head could be seen bobbing towards them, much to Lena's badly concealed delight. The young man approached Cortes, frowning.

"Cortes, I have been in the dock. There is a man there with two Mosquitoes that look suspiciously like your mosquitoes. Cortes grinned.

"Lead the way Lee!"

Finally, after chasing after Wayan and Dahlia for an hour, they had a lead, he could have kissed the young chinese man.

* * *

"DAMMIT WAYAN YOU SONOFA -"

Cheng winced and ignored his foster father's rant. Wayan had given them the slip by trading the two mosquitoes to the dealer for a cargo carrier. After all, he needed a bigger ship if he was going to be picking up Maria's family. Cheng sighed and flipped open his laptop, reading a meter. He smiled.

"CALM DOWN? NOW MILA I WONT! WE HAVE NO WAY OF TRACING THEM! THAT IDIOT CREWMAN OF MINE IS WALTZING INTO A TRAP!"

Cheng cleared his throat and Cortes fell into a brooding silence so that his son could talk "Hey, mister, the ship he took off of you worked on plasma fusion didn't it?" The ship trader nodded hesitantly, not seeing the child genius' point.

"Sooo, plasma fusion leaves behind residual energy, which we can trace, liiiike this" cheng showed everyone the monitor of his computer, which showed residual, fading energy. Cortes grinned and leapt into action

"Right you lot, load the mosquito's back on board, we're moving out." The trader opened his mouth to protest that the mosquitoes were now his, saw Cortes's challenging look, thought better of it and shut his mouth, shaking his head glumly.

Lena giggled and ran up to hug cheng, planting a swift kiss on his cheek before running after her mother just as quickly. Cheng's cheeks burnt as Mahad winked at him knowingly. Mahad was well aware of cheng's long lasting affection for Lena.

* * *

_Flagship: Olympus_

Sasha sped along the corridor, fumbling with the keys to her room. They fell to the floor and she grimaced, leaning down to grab them. Then something stopped her, freezing her in her tracks. Slightly darker against the plum coloured carpet was a tiny reddish brown stain of blood. She snatched her keys up and knelt down, examining the floor in greater detail. The blood was only a few hours old, but with a jolt of surprise she realised it wasn't the only drop. There was another, bigger stain on the ground near Oslo's room. She tested the handle of the door. Locked. Fingers on the handle and looking at the camera above her, she made her decision. Nonchalantly re-entering her room, she walked into her bathroom where there were no cameras. After turning on the shower so that people would hear the sound and assume she was in there washing her hair, she turned invisible and walked through the wall seperating her rooms from Oslo's room.

The room was a mess. It had been ripped apart by bullets. Lying on the bed, as if thrown there, was her bedside lamp. There was a light layer of blood on the base of it which matched the pattern of blood on the carpet outside. She was careful to float above the floor, since though she was still invisible the impressions of her feet upon the carpet could still possibly be seen by the camera. She snorted. This house was like that old earth programme, big brother. The only place camera-less was the bathrooms.

Without warning, the lock of the door clicked and it swung open, admitting Oslo into the room. She floated up onto the ceiling quickly, watching what he did curiously. He snatched the lamp off of the bed and shoved it into a drawer hurriedly. Then he crossed the room to the empty wall opposite his bed and slid back a panel to reveal a computer screen. Tapping in commands quickly, a picture of Maria in some sort of stasis chamber appeared on the screen. Sasha's eyes widened as Oslo visibly relaxed, then tapped in another sequence of buttons. A video link to a worried looking, roughly thirty year old guardian appeared.

"Captain Matthews, procceed to follow order 32. I want that block evacuated right away."

"Yes commander, just confirming, this is block 47, coordinates _50°04' N, 05°44' W _?" Maria gasped softly. Oslo frowned and for a dreadful moment she thought he had heard her. Then, after a moment of hesitation he answered.

"Confirm." He closed the video link, sliding the wall panel shut on the screen before leaving the room. Sasha drifted slowly down from the ceiling, needing to feel ground beneath her feet and she sank down onto the floor, not caring anymore if the camera's picked up the indent she made on the thick carpet. A tear dripped slowly down her face, tasting salty when it fell onto her lips. Oslo was sending guardians to her home? Maria was captured? Oh god, why had she ever tried to bargain with the sphere? Of course they would double cross her one day, but after all she'd just revealed to Oslo? She shook her head. The man was unbelievable.

Her ears picked up a soft but firm knocking from along the corridor outside. She crossed the room to the door into the corridor and poked her head through the wall. Oslo was waiting outside the door to her rooms, her suitcase next to him. Panicking, she pulled her head back into the room and sprinted through the wall into her bathroom. She glanced at the running shower and down at her completely dry body, groaning. He thought she'd been in the shower the past ten minutes. Ripping off the shirt, buttons pinging into the corners of the room, she quickly entered the shower, wetting her hair and body before quickly jumping out. The knocking grew more insistent

"Just coming!" she called desperately, grabbing a towel off a shelf over the sink and wrapping it tightly around her body, under her arms. She skidded out into her room, took a deep breath to calm herself and cracked open the door.

"Yes? Oh, it's you commander, come in." Oslo blinked at her, his eyes travelling up and down in an evaluating way whilst his face wore a cold and impassive expression. Her face remained calm, but inside she wanted to hit him, the spiteful git. Stepping back and opening the door fully, she moved back into her room and sat on the edge of her bed.

"What can i do for you?" She raised an eyebrow at him, crossing one leg over the other. He blinked and looked at the ground, placing the case down.

"I was just bringing up your clothes for you. I thought you would appreciate something more suitable to wear than that shirt" He nodded his head to her and left swiftly, pulling the door shut behind him.

"And stay out" she muttered poisonously to herself, reaching for her case and tugging out some clothes.

* * *

Oslo lay back on his bed, lacing his fingers behind his head, eyes open and gazing at the ceiling. She was absolutely enfuriating. She talked back to him, rebelled against him, and yet, at the same time all he wanted was to spend more time with her. Her predecessors were easy to read. In fact, most of them told him everything about themselves, falling over themselves in order to try and gain his favour. And then she came along with her mystery and HE was falling over HIMSELF to find out everything about her. He scowled. He hadn't cared for the company of anyone, not since Mila had left. She'd been a wild one too, he remembered vaguely, but not to the same extent as Sasha.

She hated him, of course. That was plainly evident. But it was almost like she was playing a game with him, acting politely one second, lying the next, and constantly, constantly teasing him with her (admittedly, very attractive) body, though perhaps that wasn't deliberate. No, it probably wasn't deliberate. But it didn't matter. She wouldn't let him in, wouldn't tell him anything about herself willingly. But maybe, just maybe, if he let her family come and live on a block nearby, if he let her visit them, looked after their wellbeing, maybe she would warm up to him?

He smiled. Yes, it was worth a try. Captain Matthews was already on his way to collect her family. They'd be brought here and Sasha could see them, and she would be grateful to him. And with that gratitude, she'd open up to him, let him get to know her. He chuckled softly. Yes, it was DEFINITELY worth a try...


	16. Cave in

**A/N So, last chapter. Thanks aussiesheila and for your reviews on the last chapter, i appreciated them, you were both very kind. Also general thanks to everyone who read this and gave it a chance to grow as a story. There WILL be a sequel, i'm going to start it off rated T, but it may change to M, keep an eye out for it. It's not got a title yet, i havent decided what to call it. If you have got any suggestions about what you want to see in the sequel, feel free to tell me in a review, i'm open to any ideas.**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

Flagship: Olympus

She smacked the button down and the machine powered down with a sighing hum. Racing around to the side of the unit, she lifted the lid and shook the sleeping girl within. she tugged off the electrodes attatched to Maria's skin with increasing frenzy; she didn't have long before-

A klaxon started wailing deafeningly and Sasha winced, abandoning the electrodes, grabbing her sister under the arms and hauling her out of the stasis pod, trailing electrodes as she raced out through the door. She was in the lower levels of the ship, beneath the house the commanding officers shared. A maze of tunnels and rooms were under the grassy deck of the ship, providing living quarters for the other guardians and command rooms. As you travelled downwards in the labyrinth of hidden rooms, things got murkier and murkier until you reached the holding cells on the bottom level. Here, dangerous captives were being kept in drug induced comas, until karzhem could be repaired sufficiently.

Her feet pounded around the corner and she ducked into the engine room, laying Maria on the ground and closing the door. She grinned as she heard brigs and officers run straight past the door into the room where maria had been held captive. It had been a neat idea, hiding in this particular room. Due to her ghostly nature, the sphere agents would be looking for Maria using heat detection technology. In this room, while pressed up against the boiler engine, their heat signatures were camouflaged by the heat from the engines.

Footsteps approached the door and Sasha tensed, using her power to make herself and Maria invisible. The door opened and two brigs entered. Their eye sensors flickered around the room as they scanned it. One approached within a few inches of Sasha's foot and she tensed.

"Brigs! With me!" The brigs left the room, following a call from an unseen sphere agent. Sasha sighed and relaxed, looking down. Maria's eyes were open and they were looking up at her, disbelieving tears trickling from the edges. Reaching up with a numb hand, Maria touched her sister's face gently, brushing along her jaw line as Sasha smiled.

"Hello Ria. Long time no see" she winked.

* * *

Oslo paced back and forth distractedly as the officer in charge of the search babbled and grovelled to him. Normally he would have loved every second, but right now the blatant servitude was just irritating.

"Go." he stated calmly, and the woman was only too glad to comply, bowing and scurrying out of the door in fright. They hadn't found Maria and only god knew where Sasha was. He frowned out of the window, muttering to himself. The gardens beyond the window were beautiful and in full bloom, but they held no pleasure for him. Wistfully he thought of the cold steel of the monolith, all logic and military. This ship may well be well protected and held the sphere's best agents, but it was essentially just a display of the sphere's power and wealth. The beautiful house and gardens provided a pretty front, made the ship look more like a home than a military ship, but beneath the grass lawns and the man made ocean was hundreds of thousands of rooms. That was where the real work took place.

He lay his hands flat upon the windowsill and continued to look out, brooding on his thoughts.

* * *

She never wanted to move again. Safe in her sister's embrace, Maria drowned out the worries of the world and spent a minute in silent bliss. But it could only last a minute. Sasha broke away, pulling Maria to her feet. She wiped away the tears threatening to fall from her eyes and half smiled before speaking.

"We can't stay here, lets move. Make yourself invisible, nobody can see us. We're going straight up."

Maria frowned and then understanding dawned on her "you mean?" Sasha nodded grimly and Maria groaned.

Both invisible, immaterial and standing opposite each other, they gripped each others' hands tightly. They shot straight upwards, passing through numerous floors, scenes flashing past their eyes in quick succession. On the way they saw the general chaos as the ship was searched top to bottom for them, as well as passing through a couple of bedrooms, cringing when they witnessed a brief glimpse of something private.

As their strength started to fail them, their progress slowed until they finally passed through onto the top level and into blinding sunshine. They were in the rose garden where Sasha had met Oslo the first day she was assigned to the ship. Collapsing into the chairs at the table, Sasha yanked two chocolate bars out of the small backpack she had with her, tossing one to Maria.

"Eat up." Maria raised an eyebrow questioningly. Sasha sighed and explained around bites of her bar. "well, you know that energy is neither created nor destroyed? seijins get the energy for their powers from the sun, we all know that. Any ghost powers we have can take energy from either the sun OR from the person doing the power. There was no sun down there, so you've used energy from your body to get up here. Normally you'd be fine after an hour in the sun, but we can't wait that long. You need to leave here. Now."

"But you're coming with me, right?" Sasha didn't answer. "Sasha? You've got to come with me!" Sasha shook her head regretfully.

"Oslo's sent people after the others. He's sent them to the tree compound." Maria's eyes widened in shock, but then she smiled easily, laughing.

"It's okay Sasha, they'll be fine. I've sent a friend to get them, he'll help them get away, he's a good guy, he's really-" She cut off, looking at sasha grinning at her suggestively.

"Well, well. You really have grown up. What's your man's name then?" Sasha winked teasingly and Maria's cheeks flushed.

"His name's Wayan, and he's NOT my man."

"But you wish he was, don't you? You can't fool me Maria, you like him, it's as clear as day." Sasha smiled sadly and rolled up her wrapper. "I really wish i could have met him." She sighed.

"You can! Come with me now! We can go away together, be a family again. Why won't you come sasha?" Maria was crying again. After years she was with her sister again, and they would have to part again after less than ten mninutes. It was so unfair!

"I'm staying because you could use me. This man of yours, can he keep you safe? I recognise the name, he's a pirate isn't he? Well, you go with him, Maria, and you take our family with you. Look after them. Now, every month i have to make a tour of skyland. There's a tiny block just north of babylonia, all thats on there is an old earth post box. You'll know it when you see it. Every month, i'm going to leave letters in there, details about sphere plans. And letters for you too, and the others." Sasha smiled. "I want to stay in contact with you, no matter what. You can leave things for me in there as well."

"So...you're going to be a kind of double agent? pretend to work for the sphere while feeding us information?" Sasha nodded, grinning.

"Bring them down from the inside. Neat, huh?"

"Risky. That's what it is, Sash."

"I'm a big girl, i'll take care of myself. Don't worry so much Ria, I'll be fine. But you have to go. The others need you, they need to get away from the group Oslo sent after them."

They stood and jogged through the gardens together, down to the beach. It was midday and the sun was blazing down. Turning to each other, neither knew what to say that would be enough. So, after hugging each other tightly, Maria leapt into the sky, accelerating upwards, her tears streaming down her cheek and down to the ocean below where they rippled across the clear water.

"Goodbye Ria" sasha whispered softly, watching the sky for a moment before turning to leave.

* * *

**St Nazaire**

"We're coming up to the block now captain! I'm picking up readings on the sensors...three sphere patrollers and a carrier ship!" Cheng shouted up from his computer station.

"Okay, bring us up alongside the block, Mahad, i want you on one of the guns-"

"No can do Cortes, Dahlia's on that block, i'm going in there" Shannon glanced up at Mahad in disgust.

"Ohh i'm sure you _have_ got in there. Especially considering what a slut she is..." Shannon muttered murderously to herself, flexing her hands on her lap to examine her perfect manicure.

Cheng frowned, his ears pricking up at her words. Exchanging a glance with Lena, who was looking at shannon with shock, he shrugged helplessly. He had known of Shannon's bitchy nature for a while. But of course, she was always perfectly pleasant in front of Mahad and Cortes, so it was difficult to prove what a cow she was to the others.

Cortes rolled his eyes, but allowed Mahad what he wanted. As the ship drew alongside the block, the captain and Mahad leapt the few feet from the ship to the edge of the block. The ship swiftly pulled away to attack the patrollers in the sky. Mahad's knees crumpled on the impact of landing and he slipped half off the edge of the block. Sighing, cortes grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt and pulled him to his feet.

_Why is it that i've got stuck babysitting someone with the IQ of a toddler while trying to stage a rescue mission? _Cortes lamented inwardly. _Should have just left him on the ship._

They hurried towards the centre of the block where the two great trees grew in a twisted spiral. There was a door open in the trunk. _What the hell is a door doing in a tree? God i need a break from this craziness. _People were streaming out through the door, running towards them. The leading man, half carrying an injured woman with dark brown hair, pointed a gun at them, his eyes narrowing.

"And who the heck are YOU?" he demanded, his voice a hoarse shout over an explosion overhead as one of the patrollers corkscrewed its way downwards toward them, trailing a plume of smoke. They all ran for cover into the surrounding forest, turning their faces away from the heat of the crashing vehicle.

"We're FRIENDS!" Cortes indicated the rebel insignia on his uniform "NOT SPHERE! REBELS!" the man nodded and lowered his gun.

"YOU GOT A WAY OUTTA HERE?" he bellowed over the screeching of guns. Then Wayan came staggering out of the ruined door in the tree towards their group. He was spluttering and coughing.

"CORTES! DAHLIA NEEDS HELP!" Mahad turned towards him, horror stricken. Wayan reached them, panting and clutching his left arm. There was a slight covering of blood on his right hand when he removed it and wiped it on his trousers. He grimaced.

"THAT PATROLLER!" Wayan's arm waved in the direction he had come from. The patroller which had just crashed was embedded in the ground next to the trees. Wayan leaned closer so Cortes could hear him over the gunfire above.

"WE WERE THE LAST COMING OUT, THAT THING CRASHED INTO THE GROUND JUST OVER THE KITCHEN UNDERGROUND, THE ROOF STARTED CAVING IN. SHE'S STUCK UNDER A BEAM, I COULDN'T LIFT IT BECAUSE-" he indicated his injured arm helplessly. Just then, a guardian and five brigs appeared through the trees at the opposite side of the forest clearing. Mahad tapped Cortes on the arm.

"COVER ME!" and then suddenly, he was off, dodging the brigs' shots as Cortes roared after him, demanding he come back. Then he was through the door in the tree and thundering down a tight spiral staircase, down into the ground. He took the first exit off of it, entering a room tiled black and white but filled with a greyish dust. Down here, the sound of the explosions was muted through the layer of soil above him.

"Wayan? Is that you? Thank god!" Dahlia's voice was cracked and halting. Mahad's eyes scoured the room until he spotted her sat leaning against a cupboard, covered in dust and soil from waist down. One of her legs was free, but the other was trapped under a heavy wooden beam from the ceiling that had fallen on her. The ceiling above him bulged and creaked dangerously. A shudder from above shook the room briefly and more of the ceiling fell in, soil raining down on them both. He spat the grainy texture out of his mouth, shaking his head to dislodge some of it out of his hair and skidded down to sit next to her. She saw him for the first time and her eyes widened in shock, happiness, then fear.

"MAHAD? GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!" she shrieked, shoving him hard. He shook his head, trying to worm his hand under the beam to lift it off of her. She cried out pitifully and he stopped. The thing would need at least three people to lift it.

"Mahad. Leave. You need other people to lift this. Go and get one of the others, please, go, get out of here." Dahlia was breathing slowly and calmly, begging with her eyes for him to listen to her.

"No, Dahlia." Mahad hesitated. "You all think i'm pretty dumb" he grinned crookedly, "but i know what you're doing. I know just as well as you do that this ceilingis coming down any minute. The others know you're here, they'll come help if they can. But I'm not leaving you alone, no way. If this thing comes down, it's coming down on both of us together." He smiled, eyes flashing. She felt touched and despairing all at the same time. He had to leave her, for his own sake.

"Please-"

"NO, Dahlia." He reached down and took one of her small hands into his own rough hand. With his other hand he reached out to cup her face delicately, rubbing some of the dirt off with his thumb. "Dahlia, i...well, you know how i feel about you" He smiled and her eyes widened. Had he been about to say he loved her?

"What? But-"

"Shhh" he leant forward and pressed his forhead against hers, looking calmly into her eyes. The room shook again and the ceiling began to fall in more rapidly, showering his shoulders with crumbs of earth. He let go of her hand and brought his hand up so that his hands framed her face. _So beautiful, so feisty, so...Dahlia_, he thought wryly to himself. Her hands wrapped around his neck as tears cascaded down her cheeks, making patterns on her grimy face. His lips curled into a boyish smile. "Parting is such sweet sorrow" he whispered to her solemnly, his eyes sparking with mischief.

Before she could be surprised that he'd read shakespeare, he crashed his lips onto hers in a searing kiss just as the ceiling crashed down onto them.

* * *

**THE END...or is it...?**


	17. epilogue

**Epilogue**

_Charlotte was wrapped up in a bright red blanket, the type medics gave you when you'd had some sort of trauma. The others were picking through the wreckage, trying to free the couple trapped down there. She shivered. The thought of all that dirt, packed on top of her, being unable to breath...It was creepy. _

_She smiled at Dominic's back as he shifted debris with enthusiasm. The guy had endless amounts of energy, and yeah, she liked him. How couldn't she? He'd practically saved her life back there, carried her up the stairs and out here because of her sprained ankle. The sphere ships had retreated now, but the pirates needed to get their people out before the sphere returned with reinforcements. Or before their people suffocated. Whichever came first._

_Standing carefully and wincing, she hobbled over to the rock where Dominic had carelessly thrown his jacket. She picked it up, shaking it gently, planning on folding it nicely so it wouldnt crease. _

Clink._ She jumped guiltily. Something had fallen out of the depths of Dominic's pockets. Frowning, she glanced around. He'd probably left a key or something in there. He'd be pretty pissed if she lost it. Sunlight reflected off of a small metal square that had fallen onto the rock. She reached out and snatched it up with her fingers, turning the warped metal over in her hand. What the hell had he done to this? She rolled her eyes. Dominic was so careless, whatever this was he must have squished it or something accidentally. Glancing over at him, she shrugged and released a short burst of power into it, reheating the metal so that she could twist it open and back into its original shape._

_She froze, tilting her head to one side and reading the inscription on the tag. _

Diwan

II COMMAND

_And somewhere in the depths of her mind, Diwan woke up and grinned._


	18. AN announcement not a chapter

**This is not, indeed a new Chapter, I know, I know, i've tricked you. It's simply for the benefit of anyone who has this on +alert so i can tell you that *drumroll* THE SEQUEL IS OFFICIALLY UP. We'll be going to interesting new places with the sequel, so here's an extended summary for all you lovely people.**

**Killer Company (this title may change, i just don't have another idea for a name yet lol)**

**After the brutal fight over Maria's home, her family is left homeless but not entirely friendless as she attempts to repair her relationship with Wayan. Mahad and Dahlia's fate is also uncertain as the pirates struggle to free them from where they are trapped beneath the earth, but will one of them die from their injuries, despite being freed? When the company which held Sasha prisoner for so many years finally tracks her family down, will Maria be able to fight off the leader of a company which even Oslo has no authority over?**


End file.
